Jackie was first born to Jack and Anne Murray nee Parker.
Jackie was born 24th October 1947 in Bow, the east end of London.
Jackie’s sister Jean was born next in 1949, again in Bow east London. The family then moved in to a new house in South Ockendon Essex and 2 more sisters were born Patricia and then Susan, so Jackie had 3 lovely sisters. Jean passed away suddenly in 2012 which was a great shock to all the family.
Jackie went to school in South Ockendon and excelled in her studies, especially in maths English and also dancing, and the maths and English come in handy years later when she ended up a Personal assistant in an office in the city, and Jackie’s education came in very handy playing online Scrabble with her daughter Claire and Jackie’s sister Susan. They had some great battles.
Jackie left school and went on to a typing school and worked local for around a year or more, she then got a job in the city around 1963, and worked there for around 11 years. She loved working in London, all the old buildings and the history of the place, walking around some of the markets at lunch time with her good friend Diane, sometimes going to the Roman road and having pie and mash at Kellys, and getting back to work late. She made some great friends working in London.
Jackie and Don met in 1966, the year England won the World cup. They started going out together, and had some great times. They got engaged at the end of 1970 and had a great party at Dons house. They then got married in June 1972 and moved into their own house.
After a few years working on the house, Jackie decided she should start a family. Claire was first born, and 2 years later, John was born. Jackie was so proud of her children they both went to university and done well in their careers. Claire became a Pharmacist in a hospital in Norfolk and
John became a Broadcast Engineer. Jackie was a great mum and brought them up well.
Jackie loved going to see her dads family in the Wirral and her mums family in the East End of London, all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousin’s. Jackie was into Genealogy and spent years tracking people from Dons family and her family all over the world.
Daughter Claire moved to Norfolk for her job, and some years later met David and later got married. Jackie then became a grandmother when their child, Robert was born.
Jackie loved going on holiday with the children, whether it was the South of France, Cornwall, Norfolk or anywhere. Jackie had some great holidays with the family and enjoyed laying in the sun all day. She also enjoyed taking her dad to Southend on Sea for a walk along the sea front, a snack in the cafe, a couple of pints and a few games on the machines before heading home.
She also had a love for gardening and kept the front garden of the family home in colourful bloom for years. People would walk by when she was gardening and mention how wonderful it looked. Like her father, she also enjoyed growing some vegetables in the back garden and also grew many plants indoors.
Jackie enjoyed walks with her family up London, over the country park and along the river Thames sometimes joined by Claire, David and Robert, when they come to visit.
She enjoyed going to Romford looking around the shops. She never liked the market as it was too crowded. She went to bingo regularly with her sisters in Romford and East Ham and also played Scrabble online with friends and family.
She listened to lots of different music over the years and in later life she loved to watch and listen to André Rieu and his fabulous orchestra. Some of André’s music will be played at her funeral, and can be viewed and listened to below.