Nov. 17, 1939-June 2, 2024
Jackie Tomaselli left this world on Sunday, June 2, 2024, and left behind dozens of family members, friends, and neighbors who will miss her dearly.
Jackie never met a stranger. She had a larger-than-life personality and always had a smile on her face, even when facing terminal cancer. She was an active life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and loved working with children, serving several callings in the Primary and Young Men and Young Women’s Organizations. Her family meant everything to her, and she loved to talk about her children.
Born in Los Angeles, California, on Nov. 17, 1939, she was the eldest child of Jack McDevitt and Rachel Larkin McDevitt. Her father was so excited to have a son and when his wife went into labor, he sat outside her room and wrote a loving letter to “Jack Jr.” about all the adventures they would have together. When a baby girl emerged instead, he jovially tore up the letter, and Jacklyn McDevitt was named.
As the oldest, Jackie loved to boss around her younger brother George. She was known to be a rambunctious child who loved to climb trees, play in the mud and sing at the top of her lungs. When she was 5, she moved with her mother and brother to Willard, Utah, to wait out the war with her grandparents, but her father never returned. Her mother later remarried Odell Hubbard of Malad, Idaho, and they moved around Idaho, adding John and Odell Jr. to their family before settling in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jackie once proudly blew up a pot on the stove during home economics class at Las Vegas High School, causing the room to be evacuated and the fire department to be called. She never got better at cooking, but she was a beautiful singer and dreamed of singing with a professional opera.
To this day, Jerry Spilsbury says that Jackie was the most beautiful girl he ever met. They married in St. George in 1957. During their 17 years of marriage in Las Vegas, they welcomed Ron, Ilene, Michael, Kevin and Marie. They belonged to a square-dancing group in the 1960s and Jackie continued to sing in the church choir, loved throwing dinner parties and raised her five children. She became a masterful gardener and often said she would “get lost in the dirt” and enjoyed spending hours tending to her flowers and trees.
Jackie married Michael Tomaselli in the St. George Temple in 1984. Mike called her from a road trip four years later and said, “Guess what? I bought a motel in Salida, Colorado!” After finding Salida on a map, Jackie decided she was up for a new adventure, and she moved with him and her youngest daughter to run the motel.
She soon found her true calling as a door greeter at Wal-Mart, where she could spend her days being her normal chatty self and catching up with everyone in town when they came in for milk or batteries.
Michael and Jackie eventually moved to Cedar City because she hated being so far from her family. They spent 10 happy years there before Michael passed away in 2013. While there, she maintained her job at Walmart and got to be a beloved fixture in the community. Children often brought her cards and drawings, and she was overwhelmed with gifts from customers every Christmas.
After a service mission in Denver, Colorado, Jackie moved back to Southern Utah and spent the rest of her days in St. George. There, she made herself known as the friend you can call if you need a ride to the doctor, help watering your plants, or just someone to talk to. She was known to show up with hot soup and crackers if she found out you were sick. She loved helping people and would give you her last dollar if it put a smile on your face.
Jackie loved the church, her family, her friends, animals, singing and parties – probably in that order. During her lifetime, she had pet dogs, cats, chipmunks, ducks, bees, burros, horses, turkeys, chickens and goats. She never considered herself a rancher or farmer because she loved her animals too much to eat them.
She is survived by her five children, 13 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, her brothers George and Odell and too many cousins and friends to count.
Services will be at 10 a.m., Friday, June 14, at Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S Bluff St., St. George. There will be a visitation at 9 a.m., prior to the service.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. The family would like to extend its gratitude to Zion’s Way Hospice and Season’s Health and Rehab, both of St. George, for the gentle loving care their mother received during her final months of life.
Arrangements are under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S Bluff St., St. George, 435-673-2454. Family and friends are invited to click here to sign Jacklyn’s online guest book.