Posted on 12/16/2019
Cdr. Folsom Jenkins Jr. (1931 – 2019)
After a brief hospital stay and a short illness at home, he was quickly spirited away by his wife, Gabriella Reynolds Jenkins, and his infant son, James Reynolds Jenkins who had predeceased him. He was many different things to many different people, friend, father, son, brother, husband, lover, Cadet or Commander, but for many others, he was simply our beloved "Poppa." He was born in Washington, DC in 1931, to Esther Bigger Jenkins and Bernard Folsom Jenkins. His early life was spent on the East Coast since his father was a Naval officer who was working in the Lighter Than Air Program and this entailed time in Lakehurst, NJ. Later they were stationed at Moffett Field, CA, and eventually settled in San Diego after his father retired from the Navy. With the outbreak of World War II, his father was reactivated to the US Navy and returned to work on the Lighter Than Air Program in Houma, LA, where his father was the first commanding officer of the Naval Air Base there and after the war, the family returned to San Diego. Folsom attended San Diego High School graduating in 1949, from there it was off to the United States Naval Academy where he made lifelong friends and graduated in the class of 1953. Go Navy! The US Navy took him to San Francisco where he met his wife of 25 years. The US Navy kept the family moving and there were children born in many Navy towns around the globe; San Diego, CA, Honolulu, HI, Yokosuka, Japan, Washington, DC, and San Rafael, CA. He and his wife enjoyed Coronado and with his last transfer back to San Diego they settled in Coronado and he remained there until his death. He served aboard the U.S.S Halsey Powell, U.S.S Rochester, U.S.S Mataponi, U.S.S Washtenaw County, and U.S.S Blue Ridge, as well as several administrative posting at the Pentagon, NTC San Diego and Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. After his 30-year career in the Navy, he joined his father in closing out his father's business, The Bellview Center Company, here in San Diego. He enjoyed his retirement spending time with Lorraine Grodzicki of Bonita and after her death, he rekindled a relationship with Willilee Brown of Colorado Springs, his Senior Prom date from San Diego High School. He enjoyed "puttering around in the garden," dabbling in the stock market, his cigars and martinis among other things. He is survived by his brother, Thomas W. Jenkins of Lake Oswego, OR; his five children, Matthew, Laura, Tom, and daughter-in-law, Karen, John, and Louisa and his five grandchildren, Alexandria, Samantha, Julia, Connor and Randy Griffen. We wish you fair winds and following seas, clear night skies to guide you and a strong hand on the tiller. Till we call upon your same port, we love and miss you Poppa.
Published in The San Diego Union Tribune on Dec. 15, 2019