Jacob “Jake” Clarence Anderson

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Jacob “Jake” Clarence Anderson, 36, of Lincoln died Friday, January 26, 2024 in West Des Moines. Born November 18, 1987, to Jeffrey and Allison (Dering) Anderson, and married to Kaleigh Kaspar December 31, 2018.

Jake graduated from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, earning a bachelor’s degree in meteorology and climatology, with a minor in mathematics, and a master’s degree in earth and atmospheric sciences prior to joining the United States Air Force as a pilot in 2015. He most recently served as a Major in the Iowa Air National Guard as a remote pilot and instructor and was pursuing a master’s degree in military operational art and science. Among his military colleagues, he was best known as “Mister.”

Jake and Kaleigh had two sons, Brooks in 2020 and Myles in 2023, to whom he passed his intelligence, goofiness, sense of humor, and countless other amazing attributes. Everyone who knew him knew Jake excelled at all he did. He will be remembered for being the smartest person in the room, an amazing leader who everyone wanted to work for and with, and the friend everyone gravitated toward. He was always trying to teach us things we will never understand and made us laugh with his witty sense of humor. Jake was a kid at heart and loved shenanigans that kept us on our toes. He had a love for being outdoors, golfing, craft beer, and watching sports. Jake was the go-to resource for all things technology, weather, math, and science. He was a fun and loving husband, dad, brother, son, uncle, friend, and colleague and will be deeply missed.

Jake is survived by his wife Kaleigh; sons Brooks and Myles; parents Jeff and Lori Anderson of Hastings, and Ally Dering-Anderson (Owen Goodenkauf) of Lincoln; twin sister Jolyn (Dustin) Merry; siblings William “Buddy” and Laura Goodenkauf; grandparents Jacob and Marilyn Dering of Crete; six nieces and three nephews; many extended family members, and countless friends.

The family invites family, friends, and loved ones to celebrate Jake’s life Saturday, February 3, at 10am at Roper and Sons South Lincoln Chapel, 3950 Hohensee Drive, Lincoln, NE, 68516.

A visitation will be held prior at the same location, Friday, February 2 from 4-6pm.

A live stream option will be offered for the funeral services and can be accessed via the Roper and Sons website: roperandsons.com/livestream

Memorials may be given to the family for education for Jake’s sons, Brooks (3 years) and Myles (6 months); memorials may be shared directly to the family or via https://everloved.com/life-of/jacob-anderson/

Additionally, an email address has been created for loved ones to share stories, memories, photos, videos etc. to further carry memory of Jake to his wife, sons, and family; please share to: jake.anderson1118@gmail.com

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Service

February3

Celebration of Life

10:00 am CST

Roper & Sons South Chapel

3950 Hohensee Drive (40th & Yankee Hill)
Lincoln, NE 68516

(402) 261-5907

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February 6, 2024

Though I never met Jake, I read with great interest, the memories and stories about his life, career and family. To my colleague Jeff, his wife Allison, family and friends, losing Jake must be incredibly hard for everyone who was blessed to part of his life. I am so sorry for your loss.

– Robert Romeo

February 3, 2024

I write this memory for Mister’s family, in the hopes that it gives them, and in particular his sons, a glimpse into the man I got to know when he was with us at the Weapons School. Due to the nature of our job, whether it’s the long hours or the various classification levels, usually the “day-in day-out” of our job is unseen or rather unobserved by families simply due to those barriers. And it is that type of access that I hope to be able to give even if just for a moment. Fathers are extremely important, and to me it is worth trying to convey how good of a man I perceived him to be. Jake, or Mister as I knew him, was a student I had the opportunity to instruct in the beginning of 2023 while he was with us at the 26th Weapons Squadron. I hadn’t met him before, as we had “grown up” in different squadrons. While learning tactics, preparing briefs and debriefs, and learning academics, we also write papers each class at the Weapons School that are to be published at the end of the class. It so happened that I was to be the Paper Advisor for Mister. I didn’t know it at the time but Mister was the perfect student to be chosen to write a paper that was all about proving to our crews, by using meteorlogical and engineering data, that we could, in fact, fly our aircraft through icing; a riveting topic, I know. Dudley’s comments (I think that was his name) at the memorial service that we watched online were spot on about his love for weather. Shortly after introducing the topic, he lit up and was quick to let me know that he would have no problem writing this paper as he had a degree in it. I will spare you the comments about how quietly confident and unassming he was because I know that you saw all these things for far longer than I ever did. But what I will tell you is that after every interaction I had with him, I left our conversations wondering who the actual instructor was, me or him. I still have some of his rough drafts of that paper we were writing saved on my work computer, which he put together very quickly I might add. He had very knowing eyes, and always seemed to be at least one step ahead mentally. I think I was able to teach him maybe one or two things during our time together, but I think I probably learned more from him during our brief time together. He was the kind of man that I think we (men) all hope we can be and he seemed to perform those roles effortlessly. I am lucky to have met him and can assure you that he was a good man, and a good officer that influenced many people’s lives for the better. With respect,

– Major Huston Matheus, United States Air Force

February 2, 2024

Jake will remain in my heart always as a great man. In the midst of a 14 day night shift rotation, it would be easy to give in to the fatigue and stress. Jake, with a simple game of catch, could lift everyone’s spirits.