Jackie Christopherson Walton

Jackie C. Walton was a woman of resilience and strength. Her life spanned two pandemics. Born in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1917, she lived through the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. She passed away from ailments of old age on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jackie was known as a teacher and an artist. She taught elementary school for 25 years at McSwain, Ada Givens and Franklin. She taught art in the evenings through the night school and sometimes, took lessons.

Jackie was active in the Merced Art League. She was one of a group of artists who established the rental gallery during the mid-1960s. Her interests in art were in oil painting and sculpture. She frequently entered art exhibitions and looked at the world through a visual artist’s lens.

A member of the Merced County Housing Authority, Jackie worked tirelessly on issues of social justice. Jackie spearheaded a crusade to save the trees in Courthouse Park when they were threatened with commercial development. In the dusk of many nights during 1967, she and her friends tied huge black bows around the trees to bring attention to the plans of development for the park. She was determined to stop the bulldozers though many, at the time, gave the cause little chance for success. In the end, she and her group prevailed, turning public opinion from pro-development to ecological consciousness. Today, those trees stand proudly in Courthouse Park.

Jackie spent many afternoons and weekends in Yosemite Park. Back then; it was a backyard playground, devoid of the tourists that it attracts today. Up until the time of her passing, Jackie was a member of the Yosemite Conservancy.

Her three children, Christopher of Eugene, Oregon, Victoria of Sammamish, Washington and Anthony of Santa Cruz, California, survive Jackie. She has eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Many thanks to Hinds Hospice and La Sierra Care Center for the care she received during the final years of her life.

May she rest in Peace.