Jacquelyn Ann Johnson

Jacquelyn Ann Johnson

Published 12:19 pm Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Jacquelyn Ann Johnson

September 17, 1928 – February 28, 2024

Jackie was born in Torrington, CT to Jack and Mary Kostak, the youngest of six girls. Jack decided that he would share with Jackie everything he’d always wanted to share with a son (including a name!); she went everywhere with him from his machine shop to baseball games. While she might not have picked up home economics growing up (the night-after-the-wedding story she told is that she rose early, offered new husband Bob a cup of coffee, and then asked him how to make it); she was strongly independent, valued equality, and followed her own vision. And of course she picked up coffee-making.

After moving west to Denver (see above), Jackie met Bob in United Airlines’ reservations office; they married in 1954 and had sons, Mark and Lee. Jackie and Bob were wonderful parents who provided great tools for their sons’ futures; and they worked hard to make it happen. The family became US and world travelers too; in 1972, Jackie and Bob notably were asked to serve as the ‘lady and lord’ for a vacation medieval feast at Ruthin Castle in Wales. They made friends wherever they went. Jackie stayed at home until the boys were teenagers, then worked for the City of Aurora Civil Service Commission in the 80’s and 90’s.

Jackie and Bob were advocates in the Cherry Creek School District for progressive public education. They retired to Medford, OR in 1993 and participated enthusiastically in the Rose Society and Opera Guild, made lasting friendships, and grew to be a part of southern Oregon’s culture, attending plays and symphony events, Shakespeare festivals, and many others.

The couple later moved to Charbonneau in Wilsonville, OR, to be near family; they enjoyed watching Mark and Julie’s kids, Eric and Scott, grow up in Lake Oswego. Jackie and Bob also always looked forward to visiting Lee and Lisa, and their kids Quin and Turner, on trips to Pasadena, CA. Bob passed in 2017.

Other than family, Jackie loved gardening, music, entertaining, sewing, ice-skating, cooking, swimming in the ocean, Kippie, her pet Cairn, and Muffin, the family Westie. And she always, always loved organizing. Her almanac-like lists of ‘things to share’ with family at reunions are legend.

Jackie was a much-loved wife, mother, grandmother, and aunt (to her Minnesota and Florida nieces), was always working on something, and said in recent years that she’d had the best and luckiest of lives. Jackie and Bob made their own luck: Jackie was a second-generation immigrant from a blue-collar background and like so many newcomers, she and Bob worked very hard, were committed by their deeds to the American enterprise, and had a lot of fun along the way. Jackie’s parents were gone before the grandkids could know them; however, she got to know her own grandkids into adulthood – and they will carry her with them forever.

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