JESSE "REED" BRINKERHOFF ~ Class of 1952
May 13, 1934 - August 13, 2007

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Jesse Reed Brinkerhoff passed quietly away in the mid-morning of Saturday, August 11th. He died at home surrounded by family members.

Reed was born in St. Anthony, Idaho on 20 May, 1934, the first of six children born to Jesse R. and Elva Staker Brinkerhoff. He moved with his family to the Hanford nuclear reservation in 1943 where the family lived for a short time in an abandoned farm house near the reservation town of White Bluffs, WA before moving into one of the first homes available in the newly created "Atomic City" of Richland. He attended Richland public schools from first grade through high school, graduating in 1952.

His college undergraduate years were spent at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle where he majored in physics. Following UW, Reed took employment with the Boeing Aircraft Company where he designed advanced sonar systems for Boeingsï, Military Applications division, including a first-of-its-kind sonar device for the naval hydrofoil Tucumcarri. He then established his own electronic design company where he remained through his career years.

During his college junior year summer break, Reed met Doreen Mathews of Pasco and they married in September of 1955 at the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. Celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 2005, Reed and Doreen can count eight children, thirty-five grand children and seventeen great grand children.

Reed is survived by his wife of nearly fifty-two years, Doreen Mathews Brinkerhoff, and by his children Barbara Borland (Tony), Susan Sorenson (Don), Kathy Martin (Tim), Linda Green (Eric), Karen Cook (Lewis), Janice Seal (Craig), Mike Brinkerhoff (Cindy), and Brian Brinkerhoff (Daphne).

Also surviving are his sisters Virginia Brinkerhoff Sweetland ('54) and Doris Brinkerhoff DeFord ('57) and his brothers Kenneth ('61), Richard ('74), and Keith ('76) Brinkerhoff.

Reed is a high priest in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and has held numerous teaching and leadership positions over his many years of service.

Funeral services will be held at the LDS chapel at 4305 Crescent Drive in Pasco, 1 pm on Tuesday, August 14th. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Richland.

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