Jackie Bates

Jackie Bates

October 16, 2024

Sacramento, California - Jackie Bates, age 93, died peacefully at home in Sacramento, CA on October 16, 2024.

Jacqueline Lee Hughes was born to Ralph Hughes and Mary Buno on December 23, 1930, in Pittsburg, California. At age 9, Jackie and her mother moved to Sacramento where they lived on the family farm with her grandmother, Elizabeth, and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

Jackie attended Sacramento High School and actively participated in many clubs and organizations, graduating in 1947. It was in high school that she met Bob Bates, her future husband, though he attended rival McClatchy. He was smitten at first sight while she was ready for adventure and new experiences.

Jackie attended Samuel Merritt Nursing School in Oakland and became an outstanding RN. She always recalled those years with great fondness for the rigorous training, the lifelong friends she made and the fun she had in the Bay Area.

Bob attended University of California Berkeley at the time, and he eventually prevailed in winning over Jackie's heart. They married on February 16, 1953, at Christ's Church in Alameda, in time for the start of his service in the US Air Force which took them to the East Coast and to the South. While he served in Korea, Jackie lived with his parents and worked at the Sacramento County Hospital (UC Davis Medical Center, where both she and dad were treated in their final days). She is still on the books there as having worked as an RN.

Upon his return they moved back to Berkeley to complete his degree, and she took classes at Cal too. Their first child, Jocelyn was born at Merritt Hospital in 1955. Two years later they moved back to Sacramento where son Tom and daughters Carolyn and Leslie were born. Jackie was busy raising four children and taking care of multiple pets, but she continued to volunteer as an RN for the Red Cross, teaching parenting classes to pregnant mothers on methadone.

She dearly loved caring for her family, her elderly relatives, her friends, and animals. She had fun sewing dresses for herself and her young daughters. She enjoyed traveling through the US and to Europe with Bob, their many ski trips (Starr Treks with Sue and Ken) and other trips too, to the South of France, to Wimbledon, and on the QE2. Her favorite place to be, though, was at the ocean, and every summer the family went to La Selva Beach, and later, to Stinson Beach. In 2008, she and dad took the entire family to Maui.

We will always remember mom for her wit, her love, her beauty, her intelligence, her strength, her style, her artwork, culinary skills and her winning skills in dominoes & Scrabble. She was relaxed yet thrived on efficiency learned in nursing school. She always had the right answer.

Jackie was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 60 years, Bob Bates. She is survived by her four children - Jocelyn (Patrick), Thomas (Karen), Carolyn (Lance), and Leslie (Brad); her nine grandchildren - Alexandra, Bridget, Tessa (Juan), Elizabeth, Madalyn, John, Ella, Robert, and Henry; her two great grandchildren - Louisa and Penelope; many nieces and nephews, and her longest and best friend, Sue Noack.

The family extends their gratitude to her wonderful caregivers, Bing, Laleen, Medea and Naila.

Mom and dad will be buried together at East Lawn Cemetery. Services are private.

Remembrances may be made to Samuel Merritt University College of Nursing.