PRPC Connections - Getting to know...

JACKIE R.

By Janice VB

Jackie R’s life began in the countryside in southern England shortly after WWII ended. Of course she didn't experience the war, but did recall that food was rationed for most of her young childhood. When the war broke out her father was a student at Cambridge University but left after one year to enlist in the army and fought on the front lines in France and Germany, becoming a colonel by the age of 24. Her mom served in the WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service). They married during the war and were divorced a few years after it ended.

When Jackie was 8 years old, she was able to take a group lesson to learn how to play the violin. A passion was born for her at that ripe young age, and she continued to take individual lessons through high school but decided not to go into music professionally. Today her real passion is not pickleball as many of our club members enjoy but her love is still playing classical chamber music wherever and whenever she can.

As most of us need adventure as we ‘grow up’, Jackie ventured to Los Angeles in 1969 to visit her father whom she had not seen for ten years. Almost immediately upon her arrival, she was fixed up with her stepbrother’s army buddy, Ken. Jackie and Ken have been together ever since. Adventures with Ken included camping trips across the U.S. and then settling by purchasing a small cabin off the grid in northern Idaho for $2000 where they lived for 5 years. Projects included extending their log cabin, and piping in running water from their mountain spring. After their son was born in 1973 they moved to Moscow, Idaho where they found jobs, stimulation, and music at two universities, University of Idaho and Washington State University 10 miles away in Pullman, Washington. Jackie took a job in the music department at U of I and from there went on to a long career in university administration. Since Ken could build ‘anything’, work was never a problem and one home project was to build an airplane, a 2-seater Kitfox tail-dragger which they both became licensed to pilot.

Eventually they moved to their ‘permanent residence’ in Snohomish, WA, about 30 miles north of Seattle and every year wintered in Wickenberg, AZ where pickleball found them. Thank goodness for that or we wouldn’t have met this wonderful couple. Last year was their first year now wintering in Paso Robles on their beautiful property on the east side of Paso.

One of the highlights of Jackie's life has been an annual trip every January to a different city in Europe: Seville, Bonn, Rome, Krakow, to name a few. She is joined by 40 other accomplished amateur musicians for a workshop facilitated by the Manhattan String Quartet, where all are coached by the professionals on a quartet that each person has prepared, in addition to guided tourist activities.

We cherish the moments we share, playing alongside Jackie on the courts with her paddle in hand. Hopefully, one day, we will watch her shine on stage with her violin.