August 20th, 1921 Alvin and Alma Hogarth were blessed with their first and only child.  A daughter they named Jacqueline Mae.  She was born in the old mining town of Angels Camp located in the Sierra Mountains of California.  The little town was best known for their notorious frog jumping competions documented in a short story by Mark Twain in 1865.  I, on the other hand, remember the town affectionately for the beautiful people it produced.   When I was a little girl, my grandma would take us up to visit my great grandparents every summer in Angels Camp.  My Uncle Louis and Aunt Flossie lived across the street.  This annual day trip will forever be a cherished thread in the tapestry of my life.   

80 years later my grandma would have a great granddaughter with her name.  There was no other name I would consider for my only daughter.  This precious name represented elegance, grace, strength, class, fortitude, excellence, prosperity and great character.  I imagine many would say that about their own grandmothers though my grandma’s existence was almost taken at a very young age.  She was 5 years old and playing with her cousins at her Grandma Jenny’s house.  They were enjoying a batch of sassafras, Jackie was in her party dress dancing and twirling about when a spark from the fire jumped, catching her dress.  In a second she was in flames.  There was no hospital for her to recover from the excessive burns to her body – she was in a coma for several days at home.  The outcome of this was not promising but her spirit was stronger!  Though she awoke, it would be years of healing and reconstruction, with permanent scars to almost her entire body.  Where she was not burned, skin was taken to be grafted.  At one point they had used all the healthy skin from her body that was available.  The doctors in San Francisco asked my great grandpa if they could take the skin from his back to complete the reconstruction.  Without hesitation he shed his shirt so they could remove 100 fingernail size sections of skin while he gripped the door handle.  All but one of the pieces from his back was a success.  This was a sixteen year process of traveling every summer to San Francisco for plastic surgery which would eventually lead her to a career in nursing.  A title she was extremely proud of and rightfully so.   She was a miracle everyday of her life and she knew how fortunate she was.  She loved life fully and respected the chance she was given that day in 1926.

The stories and memories of my Grandma Jackie are held close to my heart.  She was my everything.  With her, I never wondered if I was loved, I knew it without a doubt.  She passed away in 2008.  I had expected her to live to a 100 but she didn’t…  Happy Birthday Grandma, it is not as wonderful here without you but I am sure you are lighting up heaven.   

     Jackie and baby Jackie                                                                                                      Me and Grandma