By Steve Neavling
The FBI opened its new Kansas City Field Office during a ceremony Wednesday and paid tribute to a special agent whose death was linked to Sept. 11, 2001.
“Today we opened our new facility in the Kansas City Northland,” the bureau said on the office’s Facebook page. “While we’ve been serving Kansas City, the state of Kansas, and western Missouri since 1920, we’re proud to continue that work through our brand new facility. This new facility includes updated technology and has a focus on employee wellness and safety. … We’re proud to call this new facility home and to continue the work of keeping our community safe.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray helped cut the ribbon celebrating the office’s opening.
A conference room in the office has been dedicated to Special Agent Jerry Jobe, who died from cancer caused by toxins from the Pentagon site following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
“It’s very bittersweet,” his mom, Deloris Jobe, said, KCTV reports. “It’s an honor to have our son recognized for his act of heroism.”
She added, “He was a wonderful husband, father, son, and he was very devoted to his job and to his family and to his God.”
Jobe, like many first responders, was wearing minimal protection at the site, despite burning aviation fuel and smoldering debris. He was diagnosed with an advanced form of colon cancer in 2006 and lived for another three years.
Jobe was born in Liberal, Kansas, in April 1966.
He joined the bureau in May 1999.
Jobe is survived by his wife and two boys, who were also at the office’s opening.
“It’s important for them to know that their dad will never be forgotten,” his wife Carmen Jobe-Overhuel said. “We are touched that people continue to remember him.”
In a speech, Wray said the 137,000-square-foot building “marks a new chapter for the Kansas City field office and for the communities we serve.”
“It’s also a step forward for our partnerships, and together, we’re going to continue to stop violence, make neighborhoods safer, and pursue justice,” he said.
