BOMBER MEMORIAL

JACQUELINE DENISE "JACKIE" ENGLAND SOM ~ Class of 1973
March 27, 1954 ~ July 6, 2015

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Jackie passed away at home on July 6, 2015, after a short battle with cancer. She was born on March 27, 1954, in San Bernardino, California to Frances Luella Hoffman England and William Joseph England.

Her father was in the Air Force and the family spent time in Germany and Bermuda before finally residing in the Tri-Cities area. Jackie went to Christ the King grade school and graduated from Ricland's Columbia High School in 1973.

At the age of 20 she was hired as a Field Operator at the Hanford Nuclear site while ARCO was the General Site Manager. 2 years later she transferred to the ARCO Oil Refinery near Ferndale, WA where she worked in the Operations Department. She retired in 2005 after 30 years with ARCO now BP. However, finding herself a little bored and with lots of energy, she worked an additional 3-1/2 years working various projects for the BP Refinery, finally retiring for good in 2008.

She loved daily walks with friends and neighbors, the dog Jack and the neighbor dogs. We would all pile into the dog-mobile and go on field walks and beach walks collecting beach glass and throwing balls and sticks for the dogs. As one dog-walking friend, Corinne, wrote: "We will always remember Jackie as a wise cracking little spitfire who always had a joke or a funny true story to share as only she could tell it! She had a way of making an ordinary event turn into a belly laugh with all the hand gestures and facial puckering and always with that special twinkle in her eyes."

She loved the grandkids and when they came over there would be these huge bubble baths, and at bedtime we would all watch her favorite Disney films. While preparing dinners, she would have the grandkids on chairs with aprons stirring pots on the stove or cutting vegetables for salad.

She was preceded in death by her father William Joseph England and her brother Donald Michael England ('76).

She is survived by her husband Dick Som and her mother Frances England; children Lisa Som and Eric Featherstone, Jaime Som and Dan Barlean, Derek and Carmen Som; grandchildren Jessica and John Vander Giessen, Olivia Featherstone, Morgan, Hannah and Bailey Barlean and Jackson Ryan Som.

The memorial service was held on July 23, 2015, at Northlake Community Church in Bellingham. Pastor Jeff Geise, officiated.

Jackie’s favorite charities were The Lighthouse Mission in Bellingham and The Humane Society.