Gypsy Road Trip

At the age of 90, Jackie Beardmore has experienced many special things during her lifetime and brought to life many memories of Guernsey County. Her life began in Swan Hospital, where the total bill for her birth in 1934 was $12.

Jackie still has the rocking chair that her grandmother sat in on the front porch. Jackie remembers sitting on the porch beside her. Her ancestors owned Nicholson Mines and 400 acres including where Southgate Parkway businesses are today.

As a youngster, Jackie’s family vacationed in Canada near North Bay every summer starting when she was four, as her dad wanted to fish for walleye. While there, for several years they would visit Quintland, which was home to the Dionne quintuplets.

When the Dionne quintuplets were born, their parents already had several children so were taken under the care of the Red Cross, Dr. Defoe had a nursery built across from their home. It was shaped like an octagon with windows on every side. In the center was a place for the children to play. For a small fee, Jackie’s family was able to walk around the outside of the house and see the changes in the girls year after year.

She attended Garfield School when Harry Pine was the principal. Then it was on to freshman year at Brown Junior High and the remaining three years until graduation at Cambridge High School on Steubenville Avenue. One thing she always remembered her dad telling her was, “Don’t tell it ’til you know it’s right.”

For Jackie’s 16^th birthday, she wanted to vacation someplace different. Her request was to go to Wyoming and spend time at Jackson Hole. From there, they went backpacking with other families, including the daughters of Richard Nixon, who was then a senator from California.

After graduation, Jackie was married and her husband joined the U.S. Navy. In 1953, he happened to be stationed on Aquidneck Island at Naval Station Newport. On Sept. 12, their commander told the sailors they were to have the day off. It could be spent relaxing on the island or perhaps they might like to attend the wedding of Jackie Bouvier and John Kennedy that was taking place that day.

Jackie and her husband decided to attend the wedding at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. They watched and listened making happy memories as John and Jackie Kennedy were wed, and then got in their car to head to the reception.

The Bouviers at that time lived on a large horse farm in a beautiful mansion. All the windows were covered in dark blinds due to the Russian submarines not far offshore. The Beardmores toured the island that day to see all the beautiful homes there.

A special talent of Jackie’s is painting beautiful pictures, especially portraits. She started sketching when she was nine years old and when she was 12 took a series of art lessons. Years later, the cover of Life Magazine carried John Kennedy’s picture. From that picture, Jackie drew a portrait of Kennedy, which took her 40 hours.

She still enjoys doing portraits and has even done a self—portrait. Pictures of Wills Creek, Jesus, and her first picture drawn of horses at the age of ten hang in her room. She also enjoys painting on slates.

Even today, Jackie still carries a sketch book with her wherever she goes. You never know when you’re going to meet an interesting character or special scene. She also enjoys photography and writes down information that might someday be in her memoirs.

In the early days of Salt Fork Arts & Crafts Festival, Jackie drew people’s hands. She feels that a person’s hand tells a story as there are no two exactly alike and they are all interesting.

Singing was another thing she enjoyed. She recalled growing up with Marty Jones, who was her lifetime friend. Along with Blanche Arnold and Shirley Knight, they enjoyed singing at schools and various places around the area. They were part of Mother Singers, a group that evolved into the Land O’Lakes Chorus singing barbershop style.

Today she still maintains a connection with the Jones family as enjoys going to the Cambridge City Band Concerts and watching Berk Jones conduct. Her son, Brent, records the concerts and they are now making some CDs for everyone to enjoy.

One of her first jobs was assistant registrar and later registrar. She remembered the day that John Glenn came in and got his driver’s license from her.

When she was manager of Dutch Pantry, Peter Falk who played Columbo, stopped there every weekend and was usually accompanied by an employee of Disney’s, who drew cartoons for everyone at the restaurant.

Around 1980, Jackie opened up a commercial cleaning business. Cambridge Commercial Cleaning worked around the clock at Colgate for 25 years She said they probably had cleaned every building downtown at one time or another.

One of their well-remembered projects was restoring the tile on every floor of the Guernsey County Courthouse about five years ago. The floors were stripped of layer after layer of old wax to reveal brightly colored tile in a variety of shapes. The project took time and patience to complete but seeing the beautiful floor was their reward.

When Jackie was a youngster, her goal was to be a psychiatrist, but girls weren’t supposed to do that. Now when her friends have a problem, Jackie is the one they call or visit to talk over the issue. Perhaps her wish came true after all.