Jacquelyne Crandall Magill

Jacquelyne Crandall Magill passed away peacefully on Wednesday, the 22nd of December 2010. Jackie was born in Dallas, Texas, on the 5th of July 1927, to Lucile Myerson Crandall and John Ransom Crandall.

She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Albert E. Magill Jr. (Bert); her children, Donna Magill Maddox and husband Lawrence E. Maddox (Larry); Albert E. Magill III (Bert) and wife Jennifer Taylor Magill (Jinger); and grandchildren, Jacquelyne Crandall Maddox, Kelley Clark Magill, and Albert E. Magill IV (Brett). She was preceded in death by her sister Doris Crandall Nixon.

Jackie was raised in Galveston, Texas, and graduated from Ball High, and then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she met Bert Magill, whom she married in 1948.

Her husband Bert fondly remembers Jackie as a beautiful brown haired teenager driving down the seawall in her yellow convertible. She was a talented athlete, a softball pitcher, and a renowned Ball High tennis player, winning Regional doubles with her partner Margie Runge Kelso and qualifying for the state tournament in Austin. Jackie began playing golf with her husband Bert. She was the first President of the Women’s Golf Association at the Champions Golf Club and later served as President of the Houston Country Club Women’s Association. She and Bert played in many husband and wife tournaments, winning their fair share.

Jackie was an active member and leader in several cultural and charitable organizations. She pledged Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Texas and remained a proud member. While President of the Kappa Alumnae Association, she was instrumental in promoting the University of Houston College of Education Ninth Conference for Teachers of Gifted Children. In 1967, Jackie became a docent at Miss Hogg’s Bayou Bend. She served in that capacity for thirteen years and then joined the River Oaks Garden Club, becoming President and an accomplished flower-arranging judge. She traveled frequently around the country to judge flower shows and to participate in workshops and flower exhibitions. She loved encouraging the art of flower arranging and was proud to serve as a mentor to many young novices. The River Oaks Garden Club created the Jacquelyne Crandall Magill Flower Arranging Award in her honor, which they present to a novice flower arranger when merited.

Jackie was a beautiful woman, a loving wife, a wonderful mother and grandmother. She served others with a kind and gentle spirit and leaves behind many devoted friends.

The family would like to express our special thanks to Alpearl Moore for her longtime friendship and devotion to Mom and our entire family.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from three until five o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday, the 26th of December, in the Library of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Monday, the 27th of December, at St. Michael Catholic Church, 1801 Sage Road, where the Rev. Msgr. Frank H. Rossi, S.T.L. will serve as officiant.

Prior to the service, the family will have gathered for a private interment service at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in Jackie’s name be directed to the Bayou Bend Gardens Endowment, c/o Bayou Bend, P.O. Box 6826, Houston, TX. 77265-6826; the River Oaks Garden Club Memorial Fund or the Forum of Civics Foundation at the River Oaks Garden Club, 2503 Westheimer, Houston, TX, 77098-1321; or the charity of one’s choice.