Obituary of Denise Jackson

Denise Jackson, a lifelong resident of Dawson Creek, BC, was taken from us suddenly on Friday, August 10, 2018, with her family by her side, at the age of 67 years.

Denise Gail Jackson was born May 17, 1951 in Dawson Creek BC, with her twin Dennis following shortly after.  She was the ninth child to Ernie and Lily Dilworth.  Denise would tease Dennis about being older, so he had to listen to her and he would get annoyed and say “Only by a few minutes, that doesn’t count”. They grew up at the old homestead where she shared a room with Pat until Ernie and Lily built the new house where Bob and Maxine currently live.

She had many childhood memories:

With Dennis and Pat skating on the rink, climbing up into the hay lofts and berry picking, working in the garden and enjoying farm life as a kid.

When she was around 5 years old she tried climbing up the ice box, just as her tiny hands reached the top, Dennis brought down the axe and chopped her finger with only a shred of skin holding it on.  Amazingly after all of that she still had full use of her finger and only bothered her if she hit it.

She was tough on her body; she was bucked off a Shetland pony and landed on a stump.  Then another time she jumped over the caragana bush and bruised her tailbone because she landed on a sheet of ice.

Denise often told the story about how her Dad would park his truck away from the house and then send one of the kids out to the truck to get his cigarettes.  They were always terrified to do that because on the way back he would always jump out and scare them.

When Ernie and Lily would go to town, George being the oldest of the youngest four children would always make unbaked chocolate cookies for them.  This is a tradition she passed on and would make these delicious cookies for her children. 

Some of her fondest memories were of her Mom tending to her huge garden, stoking the fire to keep her warm and always cooking. The house always smelled of baking bread or some other delicious aroma. Denise and Lily made the long journey to Whitehorse to visit her sister Eileen and her family.  She spoke often of her trip, how beautiful it was and had always hoped to return.

After graduation in 1969, Denise started working at CIBC, during which time she boarded with Mr. and Mrs. McBeth.  She would tell the story of how she would walk to work for blocks when it was -40 and all you could see were her eyes peeking out.  Which one time resulted in her getting frost bite.  She worked at CIBC until Lisa was born in 1974 and returned in 1993 and remained working there until she retired.  While she was working at the bank she was in the bank vault putting her deposits away and one of her co-workers locked the vault door thinking he was being funny.  She spent numerous hours in the vault before they were able to get her out.  From that point on, she was very claustrophobic.

Jim and Denise were married on August 26, 1972 and they moved to their first home on the mile 8 road, where they farmed until they moved to the Valley. Their 46^th wedding anniversary would have been this year.

Denise was always a terrible sleeper and told the story many times of how she would lay awake listening to the sound of her sister Pat snoring and then when she married Jim, it was the same thing all over again. 

In 1980, Kelly was born.  Once the kids were in school she was very involved in all of their activities, helped with Hotdog Fridays and even was a substitute teacher once in a while.

Now here are memories the family would like to share:

Mom was always there for Jim, her girls and her family.  When the girls left for school in the morning Mom was there to see us off with a kiss and a hug and always there with a smile and a kiss and a hug when we got home.  On the cold mornings, she would be watching through the trees up to the corner to see the bus coming so we didn’t have to be out in the cold for too long. 

Mom had a very close relationship with her parents.  After her dad passed away she visited her mom almost daily, whether it was at the apartment or the manor.  They talked on the phone daily, countless meals together, doctors’ appointments and grocery shopping at co-op, the only store that Grandma would shop at. 

While living on the farm Mom and Dad spent hours working on the yard, Dad making sure the grass was cut and Mom keeping the garden and the flower beds looking beautiful

Mom was terrified of moths and Dad tells the story of when he and Mom were at the Ranch drive-in theatre and a moth had gotten into the front seat of the car and Mom went Bezek on him.  Any time she saw a moth she would run the other direction.

Family meant the world to Mom; holidays were often spent with her sisters, brothers and their families, Grandma and Grandpa and trips to Williams Lake to spend time with the Jacksons.  There were countless road trips to Edmonton to spend time with Auntie Doreen, Uncle Allan and family. There were also many family adventures while we were there.  With Auntie Pat and Uncle Ron a mile up the road, lots of time was spent back and forth, and Sunday mornings were often waffle mornings with them.

Mom and Dad moved to town in 1998.  Which was a huge change for them but Mom continued to keep her flowers beautiful? She and Kelly spent a lot of time together working on them. 

Once Mom retired she really enjoyed watching her game shows on GSN, her favorites were family feud, chain reaction, lingo, wheel of fortune and most recently, cash cab.  Kelly and Mom would spend time on the couch playing word games on Kelly’s phone, she was amazing with word games and any math problem you could give her, she could solve them. She also enjoyed playing BINGO, which she would play with her sisters when she could. 

With her new found time she did childcare in her home, she had such a love for children. Mom was so excited when she found out that she was going to be a Grandma, she helped decorate the nursery, buying every baby item she could and was there with Lisa when Lizzie was born.  Mom was so excited to be a grandma again and was the first to meet DJ before he was flown out to Vancouver and was anxiously looking out the airport window when we returned home.  When the grandchildren arrived Mom stayed true to form and rarely missed one of the grandkids activities, whether it is a soccer game, gymnastics, parkour, awards days or Christmas concerts.  Lisa’s daughter Lizzie says her love of cooking is because she was ‘forced’ to watch cooking shows with Grandma and Auntie Kelly. Every day after school Lisa’s kids would go to Grandma and Papa’s and Grandma would have a nice big fruit salad cut up for them to eat.  She always made sure all of our bellies were full.

We will always remember her silly little sayings and superstitions.  To this day none of us will stir tea with a knife because she would always say “Stir with a knife and you will stir up strife”.  She would never stay on the seventh floor of a hotel because she believed that 7 was an unlucky number, but 13 was lucky to her.  And of course “If a black cat crosses your path, always turn around and go another way”.  “Never walk under a ladder.” Because she always told us that those things were all bad luck. 

When we would have our family suppers, the grandkids would always laugh because somehow at almost every meal, Grandma would end up with two forks in front of her.

 Lisa had recently bought a pool table and Mom, Dad and Kelly had come over to try it out.  The kids, as well as Lisa and Kelly were surprised at Grandmas pool skills.  The last game of pool she played with DJ, she won.

Denise was selfless, full of love and her family was her whole world, she loved each and every one with all of her heart. 

A funeral service was held on Monday, August 20, 2018 at 1:00 pm.  Pauline Haycock officiated. Interment followed in the Sunrise Valley Mountain View Cemetery. 

For friends so wishing donations may be made in memory of Denise to the BC Children’s Hospital, 938 West 28 Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4H4 .

Very Respectfully Reynars Funeral Home & Crematorium.