Jacquelin Stern MacDonald passed away March 5, 2025 at Brethren Hillcrest Homes in LaVerne, California. Jackie was born on September 16, 1935 in Glendale, California to Theron and Virginia (Reed) Clapp. She was the oldest of four sisters. In 1957 she married Vernon W. Stern, raising three children, Dale, Diane, and Doug. Jackie frequently said how much she enjoyed hiking and camping in the mountains east of her home in Los Angeles with her husband Vern and her kids. She was a bilingual kindergarten teacher in Ontario, California, and particularly enjoyed teaching Spanish speaking children, many of whom were immigrants. Her husband Vern sadly passed away in 1991.

Jackie was an accomplished violinist and it was this interest that led her to attend an Elder Hostel music camp in Pingree, Colorado. In 1997, while at the music camp she met Roger MacDonald, also an accomplished violin player who had recently lost his wife, Barbara. They quickly struck a chord with one another, and a short while later, in 1998 they were married, a marriage that lasted 25 years until Roger’s passing in June 2023.

Jackie and Roger split their time together, spending winters at Jackie’s home at Hillcrest Homes in LaVerne, California and Roger’s home, first at Devil Track Lake, and then at Homestead Cooperative in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

Jackie enjoyed her time in Grand Marais, although she did admit that she wasn’t fond of snow. She had made many friends from her reading group, hiking group, Library Friends, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Homestead Cooperative, and what she lovingly referred to as her ‘Minnesota family.’ Roger and Jackie also enjoyed traveling around Cook County reading to groups from Roger’s Country Doctor Casebook books.

Jackie is survived by her three children: Dale Stern of Rancho Murieta, CA, Diane (Stern) Alston of Logan, UT, and Douglas Stern of Los Angeles, CA as well as her Minnesota family.

Jackie touched all of our lives and she will be greatly missed.