Jacqueline Ann Williams was born Jacqueline Ann Rogers to Reginald and Edith Dixon Rogers on 6 September 1947 at Hayes, Middlesex near London. She was the second of three siblings with an older brother John and a younger brother Roy. Inevitably, she was called Dale Evans growing up with Roy Rogers. The two of them were very close.
Finishing our equivalent of high school, she moved out on her own and began working for South African Airlines, which whet her interest in travel and adventure.
A free spirit, even at a young age Jackie set off for America as a nanny at the age of 20, arriving in King of Prussia, PA where she cared for two precocious kids with which she still has contact.
Leaving her time as a nanny she proceeded to explore America, settling for a time in Virginia and California, working at hotels before she finally arrived and settled in Seattle around 1974. In Seattle she moved into the travel business starting at Holiday House on Capitol Hill, followed by a stint with Hughes Air West, before settling at Travel Advisors in downtown Seattle. Her specialty became creating and/or leading tours and concentrating on international travel. She made many fast and longtime friends amongst her fellow agents and fellow travelers and followers.
In addition, Jackie’s close circle of friends were as special to her as they were diverse, including childhood classmates, Seattle and Edmonds friends, Daughters of the British Empire, and her weekly Edmonds Pancake House lunch bunch.
In 1984 she told her friends she was going to marry a Marine and be off to El Toro, CA. They couldn’t believe it. The lucky aviator was Mark Williams, a native Seattleite who was a Marine Aviator and Vietnam veteran. While in California, she gained high-end travel experience working with Travel Corporation of America (TRAVCOA). And she learned about Marines.
Returning to Seattle in 1986, her husband, Mark, went to work for Boeing and Jacqueline went back to Travel Advisors again, then Westgate Travel in Edmonds, WA.
Jacqueline acquired a loyal set of followers who would sign up on the tours she would create. She and Mark began to lead them. The top three her husband was on with her were a trip to Kenya that included a safari and the island of Lamu; a trip to India and Nepal that included the Palace on Wheels Train and riding elephants in search of tigers in Nepal; and finally a cruise on a small ship in the Galapagos Islands and an Amazon River headwaters visit in Ecuador.
To know Jacqueline was to love her. She had an infectious smile that lit up the room when you met her. It certainly melted the heart of her Marine. Even in the hospital while lying ill, her smile would light up as she told a nurse how pretty she was.
Not succeeding in having children of her own, she lavished love on her two step-children and her nieces and nephews. She would have been a great mother, but instead became a great auntie and a great mum to her beloved pets through the years.
As many English do, Jacqueline always had ready a party piece. No having men and women stand in separate groups, they should entertain each other. Her favorite was “Rindacella,” a mixed syllable recitation of Cinderella. Or “The Green Eye of the Yellow God.” And she knew the lyrics to so many pop songs, while her husband, who sang in the choir, couldn’t remember any. Unfortunately, only he could carry a tune, she said.
A free spirit has left us. She has gone to be with her brothers and parents in heaven. But she will always, always be remembered in the hearts of those she left behind. She is survived by her husband of 35 years, Mark, of Sun City Summerlin near Las Vegas; two step-children, Collin and Sonya; three step-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews in America and back in England.
A memorial to Jacqueline is scheduled for October 12, 2019 at North Sound Church, Edmonds, WA 98020 at 2:00 PM, followed by a Celebration of Life at Nile Shrine Center in Mountlake Terrace, WA. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in her name to either the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, or one of your own favorite charities.
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