MEREDITH-----Jacqueline 'Jackie' Ann Bates, 78, of Parade Road, died on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, at Granite VNA Hospice House, in Concord, after receiving care at Concord Hospital for injuries from a fall.
Jackie was born on August 12, 1943, in Ross, CA. She was the youngest of four children to Chief Warrant Officer (USN) Richard A. Smith and his wife Rosine (Nearing). She attended parochial schools in San Diego, CA, and briefly attended Mount Saint Mary's College, Los Angeles.
Wife, mother, nurturer, Jackie loved caring for plants, pets and babies. Upon the death of her high-school sweetheart, Larry, after forty years of marriage, Jackie retired to Laconia, where she resided for eighteen years.
Jackie began her forty-year career with a job at the local library, in Coronado, CA, going on to fill management positions in the budget departments of hospitals and major school districts, in San Diego and Fairfax, VA. Her final position was at the Franklin office of Health First.
Looking back, Jackie often said she would have gladly given up her professional career to raise more children. For a time, while working in Washington, DC, she was a night caregiver for newborns in a maternity home operated by St. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Sisters.
Jackie enjoyed sacred music, and she sang every week for many years in a polyphonic liturgical choir, singing traditional Latin and English hymns. Jackie devoted her final active years strengthening ties with family and friends, by traveling on trains to their homes throughout the country. When home, she helped at St. Vincent De Paul Food Pantry. Above all, she spent countless hours with her grandchildren at athletic and Scouting activities across the Lakes Region. Jackie was a devout Catholic and often attended services in the chapel at St. Francis Home, Laconia. In her final hours, she attended Holy Mass and received the last sacraments.
Jackie is survived by her son, Thomas Bates and his wife, Nuria (Busquets) of Meredith, and grandchildren, Clara of Manchester, Michael of Warner, Monica, James and John. She is also survived by her daughter, Julia Kopcsynski (Bates) and her husband, Paul of Post Falls, ID, and grandchildren, Marie of El Paso, TX, Joseph, John, Anna, Mary-Therese, Augustine and Rosemary. She leaves her sister, Jennine Miller (Smith) and her husband, Ted of Bushwood, MD, and her brother, Richard Smith and his wife Mary Margaret (Desimone) of St. Martinville, LA. Jackie had nine nieces and six nephews. Besides her parents and husband, Jackie is predeceased by her sister, Colette Perkins (Smith).
Family and friends are welcome to pray the Rosary at 9:30 am on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, at the St. Andre Bessette Parish - Sacred Heart Church, 291 Union Avenue, Laconia, NH, 03246.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated immediately following the Rosary Prayer at 10:00 am, also at the church.
Followed by the Rite of Burial, at Sacred Heart Cemetery, Garfield Street, Laconia.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to St. Francis Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Laconia, online at St. Francis .
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services and 603Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant St., Laconia, NH, 03246, is assisting the family with arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, please visit www.wilkinsonbeane.com.