Marcia Ann Love-Jackson

Marcia was shy and preferred not to draw attention to herself, but her sparkling personality naturally attracted those who met her. Born in Toledo, Ohio, Marcia attended preschool and grammar school at St. Joseph Catholic Parish in nearby Sylvania. She attended McAuley, an all-girls Catholic high school in Toledo,

then Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a focus on social work. About a dozen years later, she earned a master’s degree in social work at San Jose State University.

After graduating from Ohio University, she moved to the Los Angeles area to be near her older brother, who lived in Marina del Rey. She began her social work career at the Culver City Adult Day Care Center. Not particularly fond of Los Angeles, she decided to follow her brother north to the Monterey Bay area.

Marcia reconnected with a friend she had met while waitressing on

Mackinac Island, Michigan, who had recently found work at the Highlands Inn south of Carmel. Together, they moved into the Blue Sky Lodge in Carmel Valley Village in late 1976.

Marcia quickly found work as a waitress at Bully III in Carmel-by-the-Sea, a pub and restaurant popular with locals and regular customers. She was beloved by her customers, who often invited her to their homes for dinner. I imagined they felt as I had when I first met her: I wanted to take her home and keep her. As her husband, I accompanied her to their homes, aboard their sailboats and on other outings.

A local newspaper reporter wrote an article about her remarkable waitressing skills. It filled the front page of the Sunday B section and included several photographs. Marcia followed it up by writing a small book about waitressing, and I was tasked with providing the illustrations. More than a decade later, I searched for Marcia’s name online and discovered that her book had been pirated and republished in Russia, of all places.

During her decade of waitressing, Marcia returned to school at San Jose State to earn her master’s degree in social work. After graduating, she hit the ground running, working as a social worker

at Silas B. Hayes Army Hospital at Fort Ord and then at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. She later took over and expanded the Salvation Army’s adult day care program in Seaside.

After her time at the Salvation Army, she became a social worker with the Visiting Nurses Association. She retired in 2013, stepping away from the emotional demands of social work.

Marcia spent her entire life caring deeply about others, and that concern continued throughout her retirement. Her favorite charity was St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Marcia died of cancer just five weeks after her diagnosis. Perhaps any pain she experienced had been masked by other, seemingly less serious health issues. As one of her Ohio University friends

put it, “You sure have compressed years of medical concerns into a brief period.”

A Funeral Mass will be held at St. Angela Merici Catholic Church, 362 Lighthouse Avenue, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, on October 22, 2026, at 10:00 am.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Hacienda Carmel Village on October 22, 2026, from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm.