Obituary

Jessie Marie (LeBaron) Tomter
(1911-2013)

Jessie Marie (LeBaron) Tomter, born April 24th 1911, was raised on the 11th Plat of east Hollywood, California, in the 1903 house built by her carpenter father Charles Floyd LeBaron, of Binghamton, New York, with an inheritance supplied by her mother Lena May (Burrell), also from Binghamton.

Jessie Marie, youngest of four children (brothers Floyd, Leonard and Carl..all deceased) died Tuesday, August 27th, 2013, a few months past her 102nd birthday in Mission Viejo, where she had resided since 2012. Previously, she had resided in Laguna Woods Village, formerly Leisure World, since 1965.

Marie (as later she preferred to be called), against all odds early in the Great Depression, graduated from Santa Barbara State College, receiving her BA as a teacher in homemaking (high school cooking and sewing).

She met and married her sea captain Norwegian-born husband Austin in 1936, settling in Long Beach, California, near her husband’s home port, until his 1965 retirement.

Marie was active in local Episcopal Churches: first, St. Luke’s, Long Beach, then St. George’s, Laguna Hills, where she headed her parishes’ altar guilds, needle-pointed sanctuary cushions and furniture, and hand embroidered Eucharistic vestments in use today.

A one-time member of Eastern Star, and continuing member of PEO, she worked as a volunteer at Saddleback Memorial Hospital, Laguna Hills, for several years.

A faithful and devoted wife, mother, and friend to all, Marie and her uncommonly gracious and thoughtful ways will be missed enormously by all who have known and loved her.

She is survived by her daughter, Arleen, of Long Beach; her son Patrick of Portland, OR; three beloved grandsons (Matthew, Michael, and Peter); five great-grandchildren (Katy, Elizabeth Marie, Tallin, Mathilde and Timothy); and her three nieces (Phyllis (LeBaron) Glendenning of Houston, TX, Jane (LeBaron) Renaldi, of Glendora, and Bonnie (LeBaron) Schwabe, of San Francisco, CA.

Final arrangements are under the direction of O’Connor Mortuary, Laguna Hills, and a graveside burial service will take place Sunday, September 1st at 11:00am at El Toro Memorial Park, Lake Forest; her son, The Rev. Canon Patrick Tomter, officiating.