Jacquelyn Green

JACKIE'S STORY

THROUGHT HER SISTER’S EYES:

JACQUELYN GREEN, affectionately called “Jackie” by family and friends, was born August 3, 1954 to Juanita and James Green. My uncle said she had a great pair of lungs and could loudly demand attention.. As a baby, she would readily go to any man but would not want to be held by women. She attended school in Germany, New Jersey, Massachusetts and graduated from Hoover High in San Diego, California.

One day when we were still in New Jersey getting ready for school, there was a knock at the door. It was a boy who came to pick Jackie up and walk her to the school bus! He was mannerly, the son of a colonel, I heard, and white!  I don’t know how she did it, but it became a regular thing for a while, and she could not have been eight years old. So, I should not have been surprised when two boys started walking with Jackie when she was in junior high school in Massachusetts. My father never did like disrespectful children, so I know that there wasn’t any foolin’ around between Jackie and her “boyfriends”. But by this time, Jackie did not have any time to mess around. She took ballet, toe and tap dancing, and was a junior teacher at the dance studio. She loved gymnastics. There was a period of time at our house if you were talking with Jackie, you might be talking to her feet instead of her face, because she would walk on her hands regularly.

When she became a teenager, she and Mom moved to San Diego. I was in college back east, so I missed most of the rebelliousness. She was bouncy, energetic, full of smiles, and perhaps a little mischievous. when Jackie was in high school, she worked so that she could buy the clothes SHE wanted. She took care of business when she needed to.

Two months after her high school graduation, Jackie suffered a traumatic brain injury, which left her with short term memory loss and inability to walk, among other problems; the doctors said she would never be independent. Jackie got a raw deal; but God blessed Jackie and gave her a mother who was determined to rehabilitate her, and our mom had help and lots of love from her family and other people, some who are here today (Thank You). Although Jackie never was back to her old self, she eventually got her own

car and apartment. She and my mother became “road dogs”; they would go places together, like Las Vegas and Kmart, and I knew they were okay. As both Jackie and mom’s health declined, ultimately, I became the caregiver for both of them. Mom passed in 2001. Jackie and I became even closer. Sometime we fought but we knew we loved each other. I was very protective of her, but I had to remember that she had been a grown woman for a long time. I knew she accepted Jesus as Savior when she was a child, my mom saw to that; but I made sure because I want to see her again. My little sister loved the color orange and hearts and those stupid cigarettes, and gymnastics, and TV.  Jackie will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

She was preceded in death by our mother and father.

Jackie leaves to cherish her memory, me and our sister, Jaye Heidi Green Epps; three nieces, two nephews, and a gazillion grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and (maybe) great-great-grandchildren, other relatives and many friends.

WE LOVE YOU JACKIE,

YOUR SISTER, LYNN GREEN

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