Community activist Jane Jacobsen dies at the age of 72

Jane Jacobsen is known for her numerous contributions to the community, including the Confluence art installations and Vancouver Waterfront Park. She died at home on Saturday morning. She was 72 years old.

“Jane was deeply committed to the service,” said Betsy Henning, a good friend of Jacobsen. “She wanted to improve the community she lived in.”

Her biggest contributions to Vancouver have included Jacobsen as project manager for Vancouver Waterfront Park and recruiting designers for the park’s Grant Street Pier and water feature.

“It all happened because of Jane,” said Henning.

According to Henning, Jacobsen’s contributions include: founding director and member of the board of directors of Confluence; Clark College Trustee; President of the Friends of Fort Vancouver; Founding member and advisory board member of the Columbia Land Trust; former member of the Columbia River Gorge Commission and former member of the Washington State Historical Society.

“Jane brought world-class people to Vancouver,” said Henning, referring to artists, landscapers, architects and speakers – including Vice President Joe Biden during the Obama administration. (Jacobsen and her husband Paul Jacobsen once invited Biden to a fundraiser at their home.)

“Every governor since Gary Locke knew Jane well and her first name is with our US Senators and with every local, mostly Democratic candidate,” said Henning.

Confluence project

At the beginning of the century, Jacobsen led Vancouver’s vision to commemorate the bicentenary of Lewis and Clark in the Pacific Northwest.

Some parishioners suggested a statue, but Jacobsen’s vision was much bigger. It became the Confluence project, which some of her friends and co-workers say may be her greatest achievement.

Jacobsen’s vision for the bicentenary was to build monuments, spread across two states, dedicated to the people Lewis and Clark encountered and the places they visited. In the famous portrayal of the two travelers, they point and look into the distance, and Jacobsen suggested honoring the things they have seen in what is now Washington and Oregon.

“She always talked about Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea: what were they pointing to? I always remember that, ”said Antone Minthorn, founding member of Confluence and leader of various roles in the Confederate Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

In 2000 Jacobsen founded and became managing director of the project. She raised $ 33 million. The project has established five completed locations in the Pacific Northwest to pay tribute to the history of the area, including tribal history.

Jacobsen recruited artist Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, to design memorials. Lin also worked with Jacobsen and consulted on the Confluence Land Bridge, which was designed by architect Johnpaul Jones. The landscaped footbridge spans Highway 14 and connects Fort Vancouver National Historic Site with the Columbia River.

“Jane was one of the warmest, most dedicated and caring people,” Maya Lin wrote in a statement. “It was a wonderful and insightful experience working with her on the Confluence project. We have lost a kind and generous spirit that has given Confluence so much – and that is very much missed. “

Colin Fogarty took over Jacobsen as Executive Director at Confluence in 2014, but she always helped and encouraged him.

So many times before Confluence came to fruition, people told Jacobsen it was a wonderful but unrealistic idea, Fogarty said.

“She proved them wrong,” he said. “She did it with convincing charm and a great personality. I don’t know if anyone else could have done it. “

Last week the New York Times published an article on Lin and the Confluence project, and Fogarty spoke to the reporter about how critical Jacobsen was of the project. Due to the editing, a paragraph about Jacobsen was cut out of the last story, Fogarty said.

Fogarty called Jacobsen last week to regret that she was not included in the story. He remembers her positive attitude, how she didn’t care about the credit and how she exclaimed, “It’s not about me; it’s about confluence! ‘”

Family life

Jacobsen was born in Burbank, California and grew up in Little Rock, Ark. Her husband Paul Jacobsen remembers living with her in Burlington, Vt. While he was attending medical school there, she supported him and their two young children by selling 90 breads a week to a local bakery. She baked them with a little four burner, said Paul Jacobsen.

After the family moved to Vancouver in 1989, Jane Jacobsen “quickly blossomed” in her community engagement.

“I already knew Jane was incredibly talented,” he said. “For what purpose I didn’t know.”

Jacobsen’s son, Gabe Jacobsen, said that while she achieved so much, she was more colorful than her list of achievements shows, and she emphasized family values.

“She always wanted to help and was actively looking for ways to help,” he said. “She has helped me move around the country three times.”

Ben Jacobsen, Jane’s eldest son, said: “We are grateful that we have spent so many years with her. She has been a pillar, a rock, and an inspiration to so many in the church. She definitely wants us all to keep pushing, getting better and better and lifting people up as we bring people together. “

Survivors include her husband Paul, their sons Ben and Gabe, a daughter-in-law Allison, and two grandchildren, Henrik and Emmett Jacobsen. A celebration of the life event is scheduled for a future date, Henning said.