Betty L. Jackson

Betty Jackson was an only child born on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, CA at the start of the depression. Her father and mother divorced right after her birth. Betty’s mother Ethel, had dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to help support her family financially by working 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week as a waitress. Ethel’s mother Sarah, (Betty’s grandmother) was also divorced with no education, no job skills and seven children to feed. Child support was virtually unheard of in those days, and even if you had skills, the depression made finding work impossible.

So Ethel partnered with a girlfriend to open a tiny 5-stool counter-only diner next to the LA train yard where they served breakfast, sandwiches and soups, homemade pies and coffee. On Sundays and holidays they served pork chops with mashed potatoes as a “deluxe menu item.” The tiny diner was very popular during the depression when most people couldn’t afford their next meal, but Ethel kept her prices low, her menu simple and catered to the laborers who worked at and around the railroad. There was always a line waiting for one of the 5 diner-stools.

Growing up, Betty shared a bedroom with her grandmother Sarah, and the rest of the family slept in stacked bunkbeds in the other bedroom in their tiny home. Betty cherished her privacy as an adult because there was so little of it growing up in a house full of women with only one bathroom. Ethel’s finances improved after the depression and during WWII she was able to purchase the building next door to her diner with three studio apartments.

Betty loved school, was a straight A student and very popular. She was the secretary of her senior class and held several student offices in school clubs and her church youth group. Betty got her first job as a waitress at 16 in her mother’s diner where she met and fell in love with Paul Jackson, a handsome young brakeman on the railroad and one of Ethel’s new tenants. They dated while she was in high school and married 2 months after she was graduated. Their first daughter Debbie was born one year later.

Shortly after Debbie’s birth, Paul was transferred by Southern Pacific Rail Road from Los Angeles to work in the train yard of a small rural community at Indio, CA and Betty found a job waitressing at the local Greyhound Bus station. They had several miscarriages before their second daughter Karin was born. Shortly thereafter, Betty applied to waitress at the new Indian Wells Country Club and Hotel which had just opened in nearby Palm Springs. During her years at Indian Wells, she waited on movie stars, politicians, the rich and the famous.

Paul and Betty moved to Whittier, CA in 1964 where Paul continued working for the railroad as a claims adjustor until he retired at age 70, and Betty worked as an Avon sales manager responsible for 50+ Avon ladies until she retired at age 50 to be a full-time housewife.

Betty lived an active retired life fully engaged at her church and in her community as the Neighborhood Teams Founder and Coordinator. She ensured several generations of young people in her neighborhood always received recognition for their educational and personal achievements. She volunteered with the LA County Sheriff’s Department and the Republican Women’s local chapter. She volunteered at the local high school critiquing students on their senior projects and on the LA County Senior Council advising on local improvement projects. She will always be remembered for stepping up to help neighbors during difficult times and making new neighbors feel welcomed and appreciated. Her neighborhood holiday parties were legendary for their fun, warmth, and strict rules regarding start/stop times.

Paul and Betty were happily married 58 years when he died at 82. She was devastated when he passed but found a new kind of joy with Chris Adamsen two years later. She and Chris were inseparable until at age 91, she fell and shattered her hip just before the Covid19 lockdown. Despite surgery to repair her hip and months of physical therapy, she never regained her mobility. At her insistence, there will be no funeral. Her cremated remains will be joined with Paul’s and released together at the location they both requested. Betty is survived by her daughter Karin Jackson Brown, and her three grandchildren Brent D’Hamilton Rediwill, Nicole Tokar and Danielle Aguire. The family is also grieving the very recent loss of Betty's oldest daughter, Debbie Belleperche, who died of cancer.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.rosehills.com for the Jackson family.