Edward Joseph Jessmer

Edward Joseph Jessmer, 93, of Alliance, Ohio, died in the early hours of Friday, March 22, 2024, at Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital in Canton, Ohio, after a brief illness.

Born March 12, 1931, in Newton Falls, St. Lawrence County, NY, he was the son of Merle F. and Genevieve (Griffin) Jessmer.

With a rural upbringing in a northern New York paper mill town, Mr. Jessmer enlisted in the Army in June 1950 and was sent to Korea. He was bestowed the Purple Heart, along with the Korean Service Medal with three bronze combat stars, the U.N. Korean Service Medal, and the U.S. and Republic of Korea presidential unit citations. He also earned the Combat Infantry Badge and his parachutist wings.

After his wartime service, Mr. Jessmer resided in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, working with the Newport News police and owning a motorcycle shop.

Mr. Jessmer moved to Alliance in the early 1960s after owning and operating two businesses in Medina and Brunswick, Ohio, and working and managing automotive retail and service operations in Cleveland. He helped manage automotive dealers in Alliance.

He was one of the American Motorcycle Assn.’s top 100 riders in 1962, ironically the year he retired from “scramble” racing due to injuries from an automobile accident.

On July 20, 1968, he married the former Jewell Leslie Bailey, who survives, in Warren, Ohio. They met playing bluegrass music in northeast Ohio. They resided on Meadowbrook Avenue in Alliance, and then moved in 1978 to Buckhannon, WV, with the intent of raising their two sons in a smaller town and with a Christian education. They instilled a sense of faith as well as of national service.

In 1985, he joined Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force’s uniformed civilian auxiliary, and reached the grade of major. In volunteer service, he helped in search-and-rescue and cadet-training missions. Sons Douglas and Bradley were cadets in Civil Air Patrol. Both stayed in Air Force blue long after, as Bradley was an active-duty Air Force major, and Douglas is a lieutenant colonel in Civil Air Patrol.

Mr. Jessmer was an avid musician and musical instrument collector. Primarily a guitar and bass player, he also sang. Musicianship running in the family, his brothers, sisters, wife and kids all played, or continue to. As his two youngest sons reached their teenage years and a presentable level of talent, he (bass), Jewell (mandolin), Douglas (guitar) and Bradley (banjo) played venues across Ohio, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania as “The Jessmer Brothers Band,” presenting three- and four-part harmonies and traditional bluegrass music.

Mr. Jessmer and his wife moved back to Alliance in 1996, working in his retirement.

In addition to his wife of 55 years, he is survived by his sons, Joseph E. Jessmer of Newton, NC, Douglas E. Jessmer of Palm Harbor, FL, and Bradley M. Jessmer of Dayton, OH; three grandsons and two granddaughters; and three great-grandchildren.

He was also preceded in death by his daughter, Deborah L. Jessmer Sharp of Yadkinville, NC; his brothers and sisters, Etta Mae Jessmer Jarvis of Carthage, NY, Margaret Dorothy Jessmer Senter of Watertown, NY, Roy Jessmer of Canton, Ohio, Chester S. Jessmer of Oklahoma, Inez M. Jessmer of Newton Falls, NY, Frances Mary Jessmer LaPlante of Newton Falls, NY, Bernard J. Jessmer of Saratoga, NY, and Nancy A. Jessmer Law of Avoca, NY; and by his first wife, Ann Snodgrass Hardy of East Bend, NC.

A Baptist by faith, he was a longtime member of Alliance Baptist Temple.

Graveside military honors were rendered at 12:15 p.m. Friday, April 12, at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, near Seville.