Jacqueline Gorman of New Orleans passed away in her sleep on Sunday, December 16, 2018, at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper after a stroke. She was there on vacation, visiting her daughter. Jackie was born on Wednesday, November 18, 1925, under a half moon in San Francisco, to Claudia (nee Keefe) and Dale Ellison Steward, and later adopted by her beloved "Pa", Al Gorman. Raised in San Francisco, Jackie bought a one-way ticket to Hawaii after her last exam at UC Berkeley (where, she will tell you, she majored in boys and lunch, but it was actually in business). In Honolulu, she met a local boy with a great uniform (it was WWII), married in a brown dress (because she couldn't stand to conform to expectations), and became mother to 4 intense children with Richard Botts: Jeanne Herbert of Honolulu; Claudia Janiszewski of Dubois, Wyoming; Sybil Orr of New Orleans; and Andrew Botts of Honolulu. Jackie was an interior designer with buildings of her own in Honolulu, and a list of clients including prominent Waikiki hotels and businessmen. In 1956, she designed and built her family home overlooking Kaneohe Bay while pregnant with her third child. She also created a family beach house on Kawela Bay, where the family spent weekends and summers. In 1978, she closed her design office in Honolulu and moved to Princeville. She then designed the original Princeville Country Club and built her own home just off the 2nd tee. She lived there for 23 years. In 2001, enchanted by New Orleans and tied by a family history, Jackie moved to Algiers Point. (Her mother was born in the city, she will remind you over and over, and they were baptized in St. Louis Cathedral up the chain to 1757 when a Frenchman named Charles Antoine Reggio moved here and started a family. So beat that.) She rebuilt a grand Victorian on a double lot with off-street parking, because parking is gold, according to Jackie. She won many design awards, including Outstanding Achievement in Preservation Maintenance from the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission. A hypercompetitive Scorpio, she loved a sharp card game and a dirty joke (or the other way around), traveled widely, read voraciously, and drove around in her "lady truck" (a powder blue El Camino that rattled). She always had the last word. Despite this, we will miss her desperately. No one else is like her. We will miss watching her set the Christmas dinner table with a ruler, and then teasing her by moving the forks around. We will miss her amazing Thanksgiving stuffing (with raisin bread and chopped macadamia nuts) and her corned beef (precisely studded with cloves). We will even miss the way she told us that we're doing everything wrong. "Now, here's what you do..." Her memory is carried on by her sister (Suzanne Cristallo of Los Gatos), her four children (Jeanne Herbert of Honolulu; Claudia Janiszewski of Dubois, Wyoming; Sybil Orr of New Orleans; and Andrew Botts of Honolulu), three grandchildren (Lacey McCafferty of Houston and husband, Chris; Tiffany Orr of New Orleans; Christopher Orr of Austin, Texas, and wife, Danielle), and two great-grandchildren (Maxwell and Marguerite McCafferty of Houston). She is predeceased by her parents, her brother Al Gorman, Jr., her son-in-law Henry Janiszewski, and her first (and only) ex-husband Richard Botts. Those wishing to honor Jackie's life can raise a glass of Old Grand-Dad whiskey (she kept hers under the kitchen sink with the cleaning products) and make a donation to the Hawaii Food Bank.
Jacqueline Gorman of New Orleans passed away in her sleep on Sunday, December 16, 2018, at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper after a stroke. She was there on vacation, visiting her daughter. Jackie was born on Wednesday, November 18, 1925, under a half moon in San Francisco, to Claudia (nee Keefe) and Dale Ellison Steward, and later adopted by her beloved "Pa", Al Gorman. Raised in San Francisco, Jackie bought a one-way ticket to Hawaii after her last exam at UC Berkeley (where, she will tell you, she majored in boys and lunch, but it was actually in business). In Honolulu, she met a local boy with a great uniform (it was WWII), married in a brown dress (because she couldn't stand to conform to expectations), and became mother to 4 intense children with Richard Botts: Jeanne Herbert of Honolulu; Claudia Janiszewski of Dubois, Wyoming; Sybil Orr of New Orleans; and Andrew Botts of Honolulu. Jackie was an interior designer with buildings of her own in Honolulu, and a list of clients including prominent Waikiki hotels and businessmen. In 1956, she designed and built her family home overlooking Kaneohe Bay while pregnant with her third child. She also created a family beach house on Kawela Bay, where the family spent weekends and summers. In 1978, she closed her design office in Honolulu and moved to Princeville. She then designed the original Princeville Country Club and built her own home just off the 2nd tee. She lived there for 23 years. In 2001, enchanted by New Orleans and tied by a family history, Jackie moved to Algiers Point. (Her mother was born in the city, she will remind you over and over, and they were baptized in St. Louis Cathedral up the chain to 1757 when a Frenchman named Charles Antoine Reggio moved here and started a family. So beat that.) She rebuilt a grand Victorian on a double lot with off-street parking, because parking is gold, according to Jackie. She won many design awards, including Outstanding Achievement in Preservation Maintenance from the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission. A hypercompetitive Scorpio, she loved a sharp card game and a dirty joke (or the other way around), traveled widely, read voraciously, and drove around in her "lady truck" (a powder blue El Camino that rattled). She always had the last word. Despite this, we will miss her desperately. No one else is like her. We will miss watching her set the Christmas dinner table with a ruler, and then teasing her by moving the forks around. We will miss her amazing Thanksgiving stuffing (with raisin bread and chopped macadamia nuts) and her corned beef (precisely studded with cloves). We will even miss the way she told us that we're doing everything wrong. "Now, here's what you do..." Her memory is carried on by her sister (Suzanne Cristallo of Los Gatos), her four children (Jeanne Herbert of Honolulu; Claudia Janiszewski of Dubois, Wyoming; Sybil Orr of New Orleans; and Andrew Botts of Honolulu), three grandchildren (Lacey McCafferty of Houston and husband, Chris; Tiffany Orr of New Orleans; Christopher Orr of Austin, Texas, and wife, Danielle), and two great-grandchildren (Maxwell and Marguerite McCafferty of Houston). She is predeceased by her parents, her brother Al Gorman, Jr., her son-in-law Henry Janiszewski, and her first (and only) ex-husband Richard Botts. Those wishing to honor Jackie's life can raise a glass of Old Grand-Dad whiskey (she kept hers under the kitchen sink with the cleaning products) and make a donation to the Hawaii Food Bank.
Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased
