`Jackie' Jacobsen's Greatest Beauty Was In Her Acts Of Kindness

To hear family and friends tell it, Jacqueline "Jackie" Jacobsen was a strikingly beautiful woman, given to wearing glamorous clothes and knitting some of the most colorful sweaters anyone had ever seen.

But it's the small, unobtrusive acts of kindnesses they will remember most, such as the delicious blackberry pies she baked for her children during their summers at Camano Island - and the time she made dinner and chocolate pie for a young couple who had just given birth to a baby with spina bifida.

"When anyone was hurting, she was the first one there," said a longtime friend, Marilyn Mullavey of Shoreline.

Mrs. Jacobsen died Friday (May 28) after a 20-month battle with a brain tumor. She was 67.

Her memorial service today was expected to draw several hundred people, not because she achieved fame or held an important title, but because, relatives and friends say, in her life as a homemaker, mother and friend she touched so many people.

When another medical condition ravaged her gorgeous black curly hair nine years ago, Mrs. Jacobsen was devastated at first. But she turned her personal loss into a source of strength for others. She formed the Seattle area's first support group for victims of alopecia, a disease that causes severe hair loss.

The national foundation for alopecia dubbed Mrs. Jacobsen its main voice of support and information in Washington state. Until a few years ago, she held monthly meetings and organized fashion-show

fund-raisers. At some point, the expensive wigs she had purchased didn't seem so essential to her wardrobe.

"She was quite beautiful without any hair, and she kind of just showed that from within," said her daughter, Deborah Schadt of Kirkland.

A native of Seattle, Mrs. Jacobsen grew up in Ballard and graduated from Cleveland High School.

As a young girl, she taught herself how to knit and by adulthood had turned her skill into an art, mixing mohairs with silks and metallics. If one sweater caught someone's eye, Mullavey said, Mrs. Jacobsen would go right home and make a duplicate as a gift.

At age 18, she began working as a teller at a bank in Ballard. There she met her husband, Bob Jacobsen of Seattle. After they were married, she focused on raising their four children. Her husband was owner of Jacobsen's Boats and Motors, a neighborhood institution.

"She was a perfect mother," said Schadt. "She was kind. She was always there when you got home from school with a plate of fresh cookies and milk. She came to all our events and was proud of every one of us."

That doting and attentiveness continued with 10 grandchildren.

Her husband says the couple spent Seattle winters in Maui or Rancho Mirage, Calif., the past 20 years. Mrs. Jacobsen liked to play golf, not so much for the sport but the time spent with friends afterward. She also had been active at Trinity United Methodist Church and, more recently, at Bethany Community Church.

Shopping at Nordstrom was one of her favorite pastimes - one usually shared with girlfriends Barbara Gardner and Mickey Morris.

The long-awaited opening of the flagship store was a major event - one that Gardner would use to keep her friend's spirits up despite her illness. The two women celebrated by staying overnight at a hotel and were among the first shoppers on opening day.

Other survivors include her children Robert Jr. of Seattle; Greg Jacobsen and Diane Delaney, both of Kirkland; 10 grandchildren; her brother, Douglas Fraser of Medford, Ore.; and her mother, Ila May Fraser of Seattle.

Today's 2:30 p.m. memorial service was to be held at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church, 7500 Greenwood Ave. N. A celebration of her life was scheduled immediately afterward at Seattle Golf Club. Memorials may be made to the Swedish Memorial Center, Home Health and Hospice, 5701 Sixth Ave. S., Suite 504, Seattle, WA 98108.