Jacki O’Donnell
Davenport, IA
51 years since Ballard High:
I have always lived in Iowa. Slater, Ames, Iowa City and now Davenport for the past 39 years.
I ran a gamut of jobs, including 23 years at home raising my children. I volunteered relentlessly for non-profit organizations; at one point I started my own nonprofit for community gardening. My final job was as Executive Director of the Quad Cities Cultural Trust, a privately endowed fund to support the arts in the Quad Cities. I’m
retired now, the job I was born for.
I raised two very fine children, Pat and Jackie Mobley, who are living out their passions in life, Pat as a civil rights attorney, and Jackie as an organic farmer and animal wrangler. I do not have grandchildren; thank you for asking.
The pandemic kept me from my children, my family, and my friends. Luckily I am an introvert and managed enough human contact to keep me sane. I decided to make face masks as a Zen practice, and donated them to a refugee organization, to a civil rights organization, to family, friends and neighbors. In the side mirror I see the pandemic retreating, but “objects in (the) mirror are closer than they appear” certainly applies.
Stay safe, stay well.
Photo below from left: Jackie Mobley, Jacki O’Donnell, Jackie O’Donnell
