Jacquelyne Gordon Beatty

Jackie Beatty left this world to join her eternal companion in the early hours of Christmas morning, 2024. For her last few years, she patiently spent her time being bedbound. Her caregivers said that she was always kind, cheerful, and patient. Jackie loved to laugh.

Frequently her bath aide would ask her how she had slept, and her answer was always, “With my eyes closed!”

Jackie was born June 17th, 1940, to Charles Vernon “Buck” Gordon and Berneice Hopkins. Interestingly, she was born the same day as her sweetheart, Bob Beatty, but seven years apart. They enjoyed celebrating their birthdays together through sixty years of marriage.

Jackie spent her early years growing up in Cedar City, Utah. She loved to dance and was a good student in school. She loved to wear stylish clothes that she sewed or earned the money to buy. She was a girlie-girl, and her mother often said that Jackie would never leave the house unless she was looking her very best.

Jackie met her sweetheart, Bob Beatty, as a little girl. He was her big brother’s best friend and her only true love. She knew she wanted to marry him from the time that she was seven years old when he carefully placed a band-aid on her skinned knee. They were married in the early hours of December 16th, 1958, when they eloped to Lincoln County Nevada after a Christmas dance in Cedar City, Utah. Ironically, after Bob graduated college and moved around a bit with various school teaching positions, they ultimately settled in Panaca, Nevada, the place where their family story began.

Jackie loved spending time with her late husband Bob and their family; She was an excellent cook and seamstress. She enjoyed various hobbies like cross-stitch, crocheting, and toll- painting. She enjoyed camping and taking family vacations. She loved music, played the piano, and sang in the church choir. She loved to read and instilled the joy of reading in her children and grandchildren. Her favorite books were autobiographies and church history novels. She kept a tidy house and taught her children the value of hard work. No child was allowed to go out to swim in the Spring in the summertime until their household chores were done.

Her children love to tell stories about how, in their early years of marriage, Bob and Jackie would sometimes skip church to take the children four-wheeling on Sundays with their close friends, Uncle Berl and Aunt Sharlene and family, and Leo and Una Prestwich and family. It was a sad day when all three families decided they probably should become respectable members of the church, stop missing their Sunday meetings, and get their children back in church where they needed to be.

Jackie worked in the county courthouse as a clerk when she first moved to Panaca, then as an aid at the Panaca elementary school. She became a certified EMT. After earning a bachelor’s and then master’s degree in early childhood education, she taught kindergarten until she retired to care for Bob after an extended illness. She worked long enough that she even taught some of the children of her earlier students.

Jackie was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She served in many capacities throughout the years. She was Primary Chorister multiple times, taught Sunday School and Primary, served as Relief Society President, and served briefly as the bishop’s wife.

Jackie is preceded in death by her eternal companion, Robert Hunter Beatty, her parents, and her siblings Lee Gordon and Janette Farnsworth. She is survived by her siblings, Berl Gordon, Lorna Gower, and Richard Gordon, and her children: daughters LeAnn (Bob Veltri + five children and five grandchildren) and Sandra Beatty; and sons Craig Beatty (+ two daughters and four grandchildren), Chad Beatty (+ three children), and Robert Beatty Jr. (Rob and Wendi + four children.)

Funeral services will be held on Saturday January 4th, 2025 at 1:00 PM at the Panaca Ward House, 1065 Main Street, Panaca. A viewing will be held prior to the service from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM, Panaca Ward Relief Society Room. Graveside service to follow at the Panaca Cemetery under the direction of Southern Nevada Mortuary. To view a livestream of the funeral service and share online condolences, please visit www.southernnevadamortuary.com.

The Beatty family would like to thank Jackie’s many caregivers at Sagewood and Riverway assisted living centers, as well as her Atlas hospice nurses, Colleen and Meg. Your hours of selfless service are so very much appreciated. Thank you.