Jessie Guice, Jr. was born to the late Rev. Jessie Guice Sr. and late Fannie Lee Guice on June 10th,1957 in Union Springs, Alabama. He graduated from Bullock County High School in 1975. Afterwards, he attended Tuskegee Institute on a full academic scholarship and majored in Mechanical Engineering. While attending Tuskegee, Jessie played baseball, football, and pledged the prestigious Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Gamma Epsilon Chapter in the Spring of 1978.
After finishing Tuskegee, Jessie began his career as an electrical engineer for Conoco Oil Company Pipeline Division in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He later moved to Houston, Texas to continue his career at Conoco. In Houston, Jessie married his college sweetheart Ms. Ann Smith on July 10th, 1982. Shortly after, Jessie and Ann relocated to Mobile, Alabama and he began what would become a 32-year career at Ingalls Shipbuilding (Huntington Ingalls) in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Jessie achieved many accomplishments while employed at Ingalls Shipbuilding. Among those include, but not limited to, being the first African American to be promoted within the engineering department into management. Eventually, he was promoted to a Director 2 where he led his team to achieve five consecutive perfect award fee scores of 100 by the United States Navy. Later in 2010, Jessie was recognized in Baltimore, Maryland as one of the Leading Blacks in Technology in America with the Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) award.
In Jessie’s spare time, he enjoyed deep sea fishing, coaching sports, and mentoring young men. As a baseball coach, Jessie led his son’s team to win five championships at Mims Park in Mobile, Alabama. During football season, he would spend his time cheering for his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide and New Orleans Saints teams. During baseball season, which was his favorite sport, he enjoyed watching the Atlanta Braves. Furthermore, he enjoyed working in his pristine yard with his family on the weekends.
Jessie took pride in his family and was known to be a charismatic, caring, and giving person. He believed in hard work, perseverance, and dedication. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Ann Guice; brother, Samuel Guice; sisters, Dorothy Jean Guice and Linda Mae Guice; daughters, Cyderia Ponders and Christina Guice York (Jeremy); son, Devon Guice; 4 grandchildren, Rreiion, Rahqquan, Londyn, and Chandler; and a host of nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins.