Jessie Robert Poe
CENTRALIA — Jessie Robert Poe was a man of his word and he led by example. His son, Gary Poe, said his father was an average man from a distance, but he valued hard work and honesty to an extraordinary degree.
“If I was 10 years old and I thought about what I would want my life to look like, it would be like how my dad lived,” Gary Poe said.
Mr. Poe died Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. He was 89.
He was born March 25, 1920, to Harry Levi and Freda Mae (Melloway) Poe in Huntsdale.
When Mr. Poe was in his early teens, his mother died while giving birth to his youngest brother. It was at that time that Mr. Poe quit school to begin working to support his family.
He farmed and worked odd jobs to help support his father and three brothers until he enlisted in the Army during World War II.
During the war, he toured Europe and Africa while serving in the Army Air Corps, the earliest form of the Air Force. Two of his brothers also enlisted.
Mr. Poe married Olive Leah Campbell on Aug. 24, 1946, in Columbia.
Freda Tidball and Gary Poe recall life on their father’s farm and his knowledge of the outdoors and animals. Memories include lessons in hunting, fishing and tracking down morel mushrooms.
They often took rafting and canoe trips with family friends down the Current River Although Mr. Poe worked hard, the family always made time to take a camping trip on long weekends during the summer.
The Poe family’s love of the outdoors has been passed down from Mr. Poe to his children and grandchildren. Gary Poe said grandson Kevin Tidball shared a special connection with his grandfather through hunting.
Mr. Poe often paused his chores in the middle of the day to cook “noon meals."
“He was a good cook, but you always had to watch what he cooked,” Freda Tidball said. Strange cuisine wasn’t a regular occurrence in the Poe household, but Mr. Poe grew up cooking and eating certain meals that might be considered a little odd.
Gary Poe recalls one time when he was eating an unidentifiable fried food. Halfway through his meal he learned that his father had made fried pig brains. That's when he decided to stop eating.
Freda Tidball remembers her father as a man who never met a stranger.
“He loved people, he loved to talk,” she said. “He talked to everyone.”
Gary Poe said he knows his love of chatting is something he inherited from his father, along with strong values in hard work and honesty.
“You could always count on him. If he said something, he meant it,” Gary Poe said.
Mr. Poe is survived by three sons, Gary Poe of Navarre, Fla., Robert Poe and Stephen Poe, both of Centralia; one daughter, Freda Tidball of Centralia; two brothers, Harry Raymond Poe of Blue Springs and James Leslie Poe of Columbia; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
His wife and his brother, Estil Poe, died earlier.
Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Parker Funeral Service, 22 N. Tenth St. Services will follow at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery, 1217 Business Loop 70 W. Memorials may be given to the Truman Veterans Hospital, 800 Hospital Drive, Columbia, MO 65201.
Condolences can be posted online at parkerfuneralservice.com.
