Jesse James Calkins was born Sept. 15, 1983, in Burns. He went to be home with the lord near Eugene, on June 22, 2024, at 40-years-old. Services for Jess will be at the Harney County Church of the Nazarene, on Saturday, July 13, at 1 p.m. A potluck will follow immediately after the service.

Jess was a handful from the time he was a little guy with a zest for life. From the time he was just a young kid, he had a heart to help people. On a trip to Mexico when he was just six-years-old, he bought all the candy he could from the children on the streets and then quickly returned it to them so they could resell it for more money.

Once when Jess was about 4-years-old, his mother heard a loud noise in the downstairs of their house and went running to investigate. It was Jesse in the bathroom with a cast iron skillet in the toilet that had caught on fire while he was trying to make french toast for his little brother. His response to his mother was, “it’s okay, I got the fire out!” He dearly loved each of his siblings and took on a parent role as soon as they were born. He really thought they were his babies.

Jesse was very close with his grandparents and especially his grandpa, who he went on numerous hunting and fishing trips with. He spent a lot of time in the hay fields as a young boy and could run equipment at a very early age and was a great help when he wasn’t getting into mischief.

Jess loved the Lord and as soon as he could drive, would go around town and pick his friends up for church on Sunday mornings, even tricking some of them to come, not telling them where they were going.

His first job was at the Powerhouse Restaurant when he was only about 12-years-old and could cook a whole restaurant full of peoples’ orders, like he was a pro. He went to Central Oregon Culinary Institute for chef training and was a wonderful cook and made beautiful cakes for all occasions. He cooked at many restaurants, including Anthony’s in Bend.

Jesse loved to snack and one year he went to 4-H camp and there were not enough snacks for him. He came home and said he almost starved to death. The following year he packed a suitcase full of snacks.

He loved to sing and was in the choir at Burns High School. He also joined the Burns wrestling team as a senior in High School, becoming the first heavyweight wrestler in many years. He actually pinned the second ranked heavyweight wrestler in Oregon that year!

Jesse, his brother and their friends enjoyed the demolition derby. They built a few cars with their dad, including one that was hot pink. It was the start of the show even if he didn’t win the derby.

Jesse was the life of any party and if you weren’t having a party, he was making a party out of any event whether it was a camping trip, fishing trip or just a Sunday afternoon BBQ. He didn’t let any grass grow under his feet. If there was two hours of daylight left, he was making a plan to do something.

Jesse had a heart for helping people and at the drop of a hat would come to help. He never said that it wasn’t convenient. He recently dropped everything he was doing to help a guy 30-miles out of town to get groceries in the middle of the work day. He really didn’t know the person, but he had delivered firewood to him over the winter and knew he needed groceries so he just did what he did, and went to get this person’s groceries.

He drove all over Hines in the winter and plowed out peoples driveways and shoveled their sidewalks, not for money, but because he knew people needed help. He never charged people because he just wanted to be helpful.

Jesse once dressed up as a chauffeur and drove Christopher Garo and his date in his grandparents’ decked-out van to the prom. He took them to dinner, drove them around town and then took them to the dance and picked them up. He was their personal limo driver for the night. Just because he wanted to make it special for them. 

In the last two years, Jesse cut firewood and sold that wood for $250 a cord. But he had one customer that was an older gentleman and he could only pay $150, because he split the wood and resold it. So Jesse being Jesse, sold the wood to him for $150. The customer only wanted clear wood and it had to be perfect with few knots. So when Jesse would cut wood and if he downed a good tree, he would say this is a Chan tree, it’s too good to sell to someone else. He gave his best for the least because that was Jesse.

Jesse excelled at anything he did and put his all into every endeavor.

He will be remembered for his funny jokes and tricks he would pull on people, and his beautiful smile and blue eyes.

Jesse is survived by his grandparents, Ricahrd and Vivian Everhart, Henry Blevins of Burns; parents, David and Sharla Calkins; biological father, Larry Smith; brother, Bradley Calkins and wife, Maranda; sisters, Whitney Garo and husband, Bryan of Burns, Katy Scovill and husband, Ian Scovill of Dacono, Colo, Tiffany Linder, and Mariah Buck of Arizona. Former wives, Sarah Street, Elizabeth Glick and Stacey Sobrero. He had many children and step-children and children that were neither related by marriage, because he loved children and they loved him. His children include: Lindsey Street, Maiana Manibusan, Cody Calkins, Bentley Calkins, Chauntai Calkins, Isaac Juarez, Aniya Sobrero, Emaline Calkins; and nieces, Hailey Calkins and Matilda Garo; and nephew, Dominic Garo. 

Jesse was very competitive and if he could talk to us he would say, “I beat you all to Heaven and it’s amazing. Don’t cry for me. I am home and I will see you all soon.”