Jessie DeWald died Monday at Newfield House in Plymouth. She was 95.

The daughter of Wallace Combiths and the former Jessie Pauley, Jessie was the fourth of five children. She grew up in Chicago during the Great War and the Great Depression. An expert ballroom dancer during the Big Band era, Jessie danced at the Aragon and Trianon Ballrooms in Chicago, and was a multiple champion of the Chicago Sun-Times Harvest Moon Festival.{sidebar id=1}

Through dancing, Jessie met her future husband, Daniel DeWald. Dan was a professional ballroom dancer at the time, but Jessie refused to marry him until he had “a real job.” So Dan entered the credit life insurance business, and in 1959 he and Jessie relocated to a new job opportunity in Reading, Penn.

In Reading, Jessie became an avid golfer, bowler and bridge player at the Berkshire Country Club, passions she continued when she and Dan retired to Naples, FL in 1981. Following Dan’s death, Jessie moved to Allerton House in Duxbury in 2004 to be nearer her family. She is survived by her son Jeff, daughter-in-law Carol, and grandchildren Grace and Grant DeWald.

Visitation will be at Cartmell Funeral Home, 150 Court Street in Plymouth on Wednesday, February 20, from 4 to 6 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Holy Family Church, 601 Tremont Street in Duxbury at 10 a.m, Thursday, Feb. 21. Burial will be next to her beloved Dan in Naples Memorial Gardens, Naples, FL. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to Cape Cod Academy, PO Box 469, Osterville, MA 02655.{sidebar id=6}