Roll Call Tribute

H. George Jacquin 

October 20, 1922 - September 8, 2023 

Humbert George “Jack” Jacquin was born in El Paso Texas on October 20, 1922. He lived to 100 years of age and died six weeks shy of his 101st birthday surrounded by family in Sunnyvale, California.

H. George was born to Jules Jacquin and Concepcion Caballero, immigrants who came to the United States for a better life. H. George and his siblings, Jules, Georgina and Helen, early lives in El Paso included visits to the farm of his beloved Uncle Rosario and Aunt Juanita. After realizing farming was not for him, H. George excelled at Austin High School. He was medalist on the Rifle Team and President of the Delta Theta Kapa Honor Society, graduating in 1942.

H. George and his brother Jules entered Texas A&M University, both studying Engineering in 1942. He signed up for Army Air Corp reserves but Uncle Sam had other plans placing him in ASTP at Ohio State University which allowed students to continue studies while in the Army. There he met Lee Ann Rues, his future bride less than a year before being sent into combat in the European Theater of WWII. PFC Rifleman H. George and his brother Jules, both in Company K, 405th Infantry landed in Normandy August 1944. They fought across Europe through the freezing winter of ‘44-’45. Their unit stopped as they met the Russians at the Elbe River. H. George earned a Bronze Star.

H. George resumed university classes while in the American Sector in Occupied Europe. Once home, he returned to A&M joining Tau Beta Pi, the Honor Scholar Society and graduated in 1949, with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering.

H. George and Lee Ann were married in June 1950. H. George began his professional career at General Electric in Schenectady and then in Cincinnati working on jet engine design. His three daughters, Denise, Michele and Helene were born while they lived in Ohio.

The family moved to the beautiful “Valley of Heart’s Delight” Santa Clara Valley in the early ‘60s for work in the expanding aerospace industry. H. George worked at Lockheed Missiles and Space on rocket hydraulic guidance systems and eventually earned two patents for his designs. The family settled in Cupertino, a rapidly suburbanizing expanse of prune, cherry, and apricot orchards now known as “Silicon Valley”.

H. George made new friends from around the world and kept in touch with old ones from El Paso and A&M. A voracious reader and appreciator of fine music, he found time to study Russian. California’s rich outdoors found him cross country skiing and sailing his Rhodes 19 “Alba Azul”. Many family trips were made with or without the sailboat in tow, including an expedition in a Saab from Texas to Mazatlan via Chihuahua, his mother’s birthplace.

H. George cared deeply for family with many visits all over the West. He was a strong advocate of education and all three children graduated from the University of California.

After retirement, H. George and Lee Ann enjoyed bird watching in Mexico, Oregon, Padre Island and Big Bend. They followed the trail of Lewis and Clark and visited Montreal, Germany and Italy. They shared many holidays at the home of daughter Helene and family, only four houses away. Never being much of a “sports guy”, H. George was a reliable cheerleader for his granddaughters’ soccer games. He was proud of their achievements and in his 90s traveled across the country to attend their UVA and UMich graduations.

George and Lee Ann celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2000, sadly she passed away in 2005. George adapted, kept himself busy and made new friends. He took his daughters Helene and Michele to the sites of his WWII experiences and his father’s birthplace in the Italian Alps. When George found a new love, Mary Flanagan Hanson, their families were delighted. They enjoyed family time, made trips around California, to South America and France. H. George was 94, still curious and capable of navigating the cobbled streets of Aix en Provence on his way to French class.

In H. George's last years, his character showed through in his stoic calm acceptance. He was a “good soldier”. He departed this world September 8, 2023 when he was finally “done”. His beloved Mary had passed away three months before.

H. George is also preceded in death by his brother Jules, sister Georgina and their spouses as well as his son in law Rob Cockle. He is survived by his sister Helen Schultze, daughters Michele (James E Lischer) Jacquin, Denise Jacquin, and Helene (James O) Davis, granddaughters Leah and Julie Davis and nieces, nephews and their families.