Jesse Lenard Linder

Jesse Lenard Linder was born June 28, 1931 in Portageville, Missouri to parents Leonard West and Stella Alma (Wilbanks) Linder. He passed away February 17, 2019 at his home in Allen, Texas.

He joined the U.S. Navy in 1950 as an enlisted man. He served in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Jesse had many different duties while in the Navy, including aviation ordnance man, shore patrol, and cryptologist and intelligence specialist.  During this period, Jesse earned and received promotion from enlisted status to that of a commissioned officer.

Jess was stationed in numerous places including Providence, Rhode Island, Norfolk, Virginia, Washington D.C., Jacksonville, Florida, Morocco Africa and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During his time in the Navy, Jesse served on the USS Saratoga, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Midway, USS Forrestal and the USS Independence, all U.S. aircraft carriers.

During the Vietnam War, as an intelligence office, he provided photographic analysis and briefings for senior officers about potential bombing missions over both South and North Vietnam. He directly briefed President Lyndon Johnson regarding the bombing of Haiphong Harbor.

Jess rose to the rank of Lieutenant and retired in 1970. After retiring from the Navy, he worked briefly for the Office of Naval Intelligence using his intelligence capability.  He then worked for Texas Instruments for the next 20 years as a program manager. While at TI, Jess worked on many highly proprietary and classified defense related programs. After retiring from TI, he worked for both Boeing and Raytheon as a support contractor on many proprietary and defense related programs. He also worked briefly for the CIA in Washington D.C. on their business operations software using newly developed Texas Instruments automated software development tools.  His latter years were spent with Raytheon, providing security support for a sensitive defense development program.

Jess will be remembered as a devoted husband and loving father and grandfather. He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Maureen Oseland and brother in law William Stewart. He is survived by his loving wife Dot Linder; children Dee Swift and her husband Tony of Jerseyville, Illinois, Herbert Linder and his wife Agnes of McKinney, Texas, Suzanne Goswick and her husband Frank of Frisco, Texas, Chris Linder of Mill Creek, Washington and Mark Linder and his wife Charlotte of Denton, Texas; siblings Jerry Linder and his wife Pam of East Alton, Illinois, Glen Linder and his wife Linda of Brighton, Illinois and Janet Linder of Burleson, Texas; 18 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild.

A celebration of Jess’s life will be held at 10:00 A.M. Friday, March 8, 2019 in the chapel at Allen Family Funeral Options with Chaplain Mark Melton officiating. He will be laid to rest following the service at 1:15 P.M. at the Dallas Ft Worth National Cemetery, 2000 Mountain Creek Pkwy, Dallas, Texas.

The family requests, if desired, memorial contributions be made to Visiting Nurses Association, 1600 Viceroy Dr., Ste 400, Dallas, Texas 75235.