Obituary of Jessie Mae Evans

Jessie Mae Evans, age 84, of Chatsworth, California passed away on August 30, 2023 of heart failure, in her home with family at her bedside. She passed away on the anniversary of her father’s death in 1962. 

Jessie was born on May 24, 1939, in Springfield Illinois, the youngest daughter of Iva Mae and Jesse James Arnold. She was predeceased by her parents and all of her siblings; brothers William, Jack and David Foley and Robert Arnold, sisters Ada Austin and Rosemary Spivey. She was also predeceased by son in law Jerome Cobb and grandson Ian Davis. She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Donald Evans and daughters Cheryl Evans Cobb, Laura Davis and Helen Tenbrook (Jeffrey). Jessie is survived by grandchildren Ashlyn Cobb, Lindsay Lee Rubino (James), Donald Davis, Westley Espinosa (Danielle), Sarah Rose (Erik), Jay Espinosa, Haley Short (John), and Preston Tenbrook plus twelve great grandchildren. She is also survived by her best friend since age 7, Joan Murphy, and her cherished close friend from high school Shirley Dixon.  

Jessie spent her life in Bismarck, Arkansas, and Southern California. She graduated from Bismarck High School in 1958, and moved to Los Angeles where she met and married her husband Donald in 1959.  Jessie raised her daughters in Van Nuys, California where she was a stay-at-home mom, girl scout leader and active in her children’s lives.  She and her family bought a home and moved to Chatsworth, California in 1972, where she lived in the same home until her death. As her children got older, Jessie went back to work as a unit secretary in some of the first inpatient hospital-based hospice units, and then worked with a local dermatologist as insurance biller until her retirement in 2000. 

Services will be held on September 12, 2023 at Rose Family Funeral home in Simi Valley. Viewing at 10am, service at 11am. Burial to follow at Oakwood Memorial Park in her hometown of Chatsworth, California.