Elinore "Onnie" Jacobsen

Elinore Jane Jacobsen, 93, died peacefully at the Westminster Suncoast Nursing Home on January 24, 2025. 

Born in Minocqua, Wisconsin in 1928, Elinore was the second child of Elinore and Frank Birkholz. Her two younger siblings (twins, Barbara and John Robert) had trouble saying “Elinore” as toddlers, shortening it to “Onnie” – a nickname that stuck with the twins and her older sister Rosemary and is still used by extended Birkholz family today. After graduating from Minocqua High School in 1946 where she was a basketball player, cheerleader, member of the debate team and yearbook staff, Elinore attended nursing school at St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago, Illinois.

With her RN degree in hand, she moved first to Aspen, Colorado where she specifically chose to work the night shift. Once off duty, she’d head straight to the slopes in her V12 convertible Studebaker and ski all day, coming off the slopes in time for a quick rest before heading back to the hospital for work. Sunnier climates eventually lured her to San Francisco, where she took up private nursing, caring for wealthy arts patrons and families in the Bay Area. 

After a rich and rewarding public health career, Elinore retired in 1989. She spent time traveling with her husband Jake through Eastern Russia and the Panama Canal, and with her grandchildren through Finland, the Baltic region, Ireland and Scotland. A breast cancer survivor for 47 years, she was active in her chapter of the American Cancer Society and First City Council on Cancer.

Asked more than once what she considered her greatest achievement, Elinore proudly stated it was her three daughters and the fact they truly loved each other. While their mother’s strength, independence and compassion certainly guided the girls, they joke that the best of them can be traced directly back to “Dining Room Table Lecture #479,602” or any one of the “Mom-ilies” she delivered through the decades in person, on the phone while away at college, or via email as they started their own lives and families. 

Elinore was preceded in death by her husband, Jack P. Jacobsen; brother John Robert Birkholz; sisters Rosemary Shaney and Barbara Patrick; former husband Robert Gore; and son-in-law Pat Dwyer. She is survived by her beloved daughters, Mary Gore (Bryan) Schroder and Anne Gore, of Anchorage, and Jennifer Gore Dwyer, of Kenmore, WA, all of whom lovingly disobeyed their mother’s specific request “..upon my demise I want a short obituary.” Additional survivors include her grandchildren, Brenna Dwyer of Bozeman, MT; Sean (Bri and great-grandaughter Blakely) Dwyer of Edmonds, WA; Jack Schroder of Anchorage; Tate and Luka Hart and their father, Dave Hart, all of Anchorage; Melynda (Jan Schwier and daughter Marlene) Gierard whom she often referred to as her “fourth daughter,” and by an extended network of loving nieces and nephews throughout Alaska, the Lower 48 and abroad. 

Beautiful mama, grandma, great-grandma, wife, sister, friend, mentor and colleague, Elinore – Onnie Jane – you are forever in our hearts.