Jeff, 87, died August 16, 2024, in Silver City, New Mexico. He was born April 12, 1937, in Duluth, Minnesota, where he grew up and graduated from high school in 1955. He went to the Univ. Minnesota Duluth for a year before moving to Thompson Falls, Montana, where he worked the 1956 season on a lookout. While in the lookout, he saw smokejumpers for the first time jumping a nearby fire. Watching the jumpers exiting the aircraft, he knew right away that was what he wanted to do.
Jeff rookied at Missoula, where he jumped 1957-66 and 1978. He was on the Silver City Crew for eight seasons. Jeff left the smokejumpers when he reached age 40 and was hired at the Missoula Equipment Development Center (MEDC).

Jeff continued jumping at MEDC until 1978, when he suffered a major back injury on a jump in Little Stoney Creek, Montana. He retired in 1983 and moved to Silver City. Jeff made 180 USFS jumps, mostly fires, as only two practice jumps were the norm at that time.
“The jumping years were by far my best years, and I wish I could return.” Jeff is an NSA Life Member and has written numerous articles for Smokejumper magazine.