Carleen Marie Jackson

Treasured wife, sister, cousin and friend Carleen Marie Jackson of DuPont, Wash., died at her home on Dec. 23, 2014. A celebration of life will take place at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, at Harmony Hill Retreat Center, Union, where she had found great comfort and support as she fought cancer. The celebration will be in the Centers Nordstrom Great Hall, 7362 E. State Route 106, near Alderbrook Inn (driving directions available at harmonyhill.org) Carleen was born Aug. 4, 1947, in Alameda Calif., to Carl William and Eileen Marie Curry Tapfer. Her fathers Air Force career as a transportation systems specialist took the family to Hawaii, Texas, California, New Jersey and Washington, among other places. They finally settled in Parkland. She was a girl of diverse interests, and mastered both English-style horsemanship and sewing. In 1965, she graduated from Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma and enrolled in the education program at Washington State University, Pullman. During summers, she worked as an accounting clerk at Fort Lewis. In 1969, she earned her bachelors degree in education. It was at WSU that she met her future husband, William Willie Jackson. They were married July 12, 1969, at Parklands All Saints Episcopal Church. While he served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, she taught at Truman Middle School in Parkland. She then became a teacher with the Colfax School District while her husband completed his masters degree at WSU. In 1973, the Jacksons returned to Tacoma, where Carleen worked for The Hillhaven Corp., then took a post with the March of Dimes, Pierce County Chapter. During her 20-year career with the organization, she served in several roles, eventually becoming acting director of the Western Washington Chapter. In 1993, she was hired as a development officer by Saint Martins College in Lacey, where her leadership and commitment made her a valued colleague. Her work in collaboration with other university leaders helped change its name to Saint Martins University and to transform the school into the beautiful and welcoming campus it is today. She eventually filled several senior administrative posts, including those of director of development and director of enrollment management and marketing. Her work on the OGrady Library Campaign, Womens Symposium, the 1995 Saint Martins Centennial celebration, long-range planning and many other projects helped make each successful. In 2007, she became one of only a handful of recipients of the Presidents Medal, bestowed to honor distinguished contributors to the universitys welfare. In 2007, she joined Washingtons Office of Secretary of State as director of development for the Washington State Heritage Center. Her fundraising efforts were key to publishing a series of books about notable Washingtonians, and she was proud that her work with the offices Legacy Project helped conserve and promote Washingtons heritage. Carleen retired in mid-2013, but remained active until her last week of life. She was a past member of several organizations, including Rotary, the Nisqually Land Trust and the Olympia Symphony board of directors. She continued to support activities at Saint Martins, Harmony Hill, the Legacy Project and many others. Her time and attention were gifts she generously shared with family, friends and anyone needing a helping hand or a sounding board. She helped disabled children with therapeutic horseback riding, tutored Chinese students in English and helped friends paint walls. Whether she was baking cookies or pruning a rose bush, she did it well. She loved reading and was a devoted book club member. And she had two special pleasures in life: Travel and animals. Her brief retirement was full of adventures, large and small. She and her husband Willie paid a 45th anniversary visit to the Portland hotel in which theyd honeymooned, rode the Seattle Ferris wheel and zip-lined at Northwest Trek. She viewed the Northern Lights in Alaska, touched her ancestral roots in Ireland, reveled in a historic Christmas celebration at Williamsburg, Va., and savored a trip to Oregons coast and wine country. Carleen never met an animal she didnt love from Dasher, her childhood dachshund, and Shorty, the horse she bought as a teen, to the going-away gift of kittens from her Colfax students and her last golden retriever, Macy. Inside Carleens home, it was not unusual to find the pets of friends and neighbors, sometimes visiting without their owners, while outside, birds of all descriptions flocked to well-stocked feeders. Besides her husband Willie, she is survived by her beloved brother Chris Tapfer, DuPont; sister-in-law Mallory Jackson, Port Orchard; aunt Jean Curry, Cheney; and cousins Nancy, Robert and William Curry and Marianne Bodine. From her Saint Martins years came a strong bond among five close friends who also considered her family. She was preceded in death by her parents. Memorials in Carleens name can be made to: Harmony Hill Retreat Center, 7362 E. State Route 106, Union, WA 98592 -- or -- Leslie G. Bailey Endowment, Saint Martins University, Office of Institutional Advancement, Saint Martins University, 5000 Abbey Way, Lacey, WA 98503. Arrangements by Edwards Funeral Home, University Place