Biography: Jessie LeGrand Lightfoot Oliver, who died January 8, 2011 at the Northfield Minnesota Long Term Care Center, was born in Carolina, Tennessee, on Oct. 6, 1910, on her father?s farm in the house he had built himself. Her parents were Ada Woodard and Charles S. Lightfoot. Jessie Lee was a lineal descendant of Col. John Lightfoot, who settled in Virginia about 1670. When she was ten years old, her mother died, and Jessie Lee helped out on the family farm, cooking and baking for the field hands and for her younger brother, Clyde Lightfoot, and for her father. Later the two children went to live with relatives, and still later, when she was 12, Jessie moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, to live with her aunt, Mrs. H.G. Louder. Jessie Lee graduated from Little Rock High School, and began working as a very efficient secretary, employed by a local doctor and lawyer. Jessie Lee met her future husband, Charles Milton Oliver, on June 2, 1932. She said he proposed marriage on their second date, but she turned him down, telling him that they didn?t know each other well enough yet. He persevered, and they were married two years later, on June 2, 1934. Charles and Jessie Lee had two daughters, one stillborn in 1940 and a second, Carol Warrell, in 1943. Jessie Lee was active in Little Rock charity and community work, in her church with its various activities, as home room mother, PTA member, Girl Scout leader, quilt maker extraordinaire, and excellent cook known for her southern specialties like fried chicken, turnip greens, corn pudding, jam cake, and green apple pie. She was a lifelong member of Little Rock First United Methodist Church and active in her Sunday School class and Women?s Fellowship there, also serving for many years on the Altar Guild and as a member of the church library committee, where she enjoyed selecting and cataloguing books. She taught the two-year-old children?s Sunday School class for over twenty years. She also worked weekly at the Union Rescue Mission. She was a member of the Crystal Court Garden Club and Musical Coterie. In 1998 Jessie moved to Northfield, Minnesota, to be near her daughter, Carol Oliver, and son-in-law, Norman Vig. While in Northfield she attended All Saints Episcopal Church and kept busy with the activities at the Long Term Care Center in Northfield. Jessie Lee Oliver was predeceased by her parents, Ada and Charles Lightfoot, by her brother, Clyde Lightfoot of Ripley, Tennessee, and by her husband, Charles M. Oliver. She is survived by her daughter, Carol Oliver, and son-in-law, Norman Vig; by her grandson, Peter Brambl, his wife Joanna Ellis, and their son, Sean Ellis Brambl (all of Santa Monica, CA); by two step-grandsons, Edward Vig and his wife Angela, and Jesse Vig, all of St. Paul, and by one first cousin, Jeanne Lightfoot Williams of Ripley, TN, in addition to other relatives and friends. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, January 11, at 3:30 pm at All Saints Episcopal Church, 419 Washington Street, Northfield, with the Rev. Gayle Marsh officiating. A graveside service and burial will be 2pm Thursday, January 13th at Roselawn Cemetery, Little Rock, AR. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to All Saints Episcopal Church, Northfield. Funeral arrangements are by the Bierman Funeral Home. The family is deeply grateful to the staff at the Long Term Care Center, Northfield, who made Jessie?s last years so comfortable and fulfilling. We also thank her pastor, the Rev. Gayle Marsh, for the comfort she gave to Jessie through her frequent visits and prayers.