Jacqueline Mary Grubb

Longtime Corvallis resident Jacqueline "Jackie" Grubb died of natural causes Aug. 10 at her home, surrounded by family. She was 94. She was born at home in Salem on Oct. 23, 1930, the first of seven children of Beatrice (Livingston) and Gerald Davis. As the oldest, Jacqueline helped care for her siblings from a young age. She attended McKinley Elementary School and Leslie Junior High in Salem, and went to high school at Salem High School and Portland's former Immaculata Academy. In 1957, she married Dr. Richard Gail Grubb of Portland. They lived with their growing family in Ashland, Florence, and Reedsport as he established his dental practice. With his untimely death in 1964, she ran a home daycare in Salem, then went back to school at Oregon College of Education, now Western Oregon University, in Monmouth. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in general studies in 1973. After college, she developed a career in community housing programs. She worked first for the nonprofit Valley Migrant League helping migrant workers build their own homes. She found her most rewarding jobs as a community development specialist for the city of Corvallis and later for Lane County Housing Authority, helping families get low-interest loans to renovate their homes. She worked in those two positions for several years and loved her work. She retired at age 75 from a position with the state Department of Administrative Services in Salem, where she made many friends. As a hard-working single mother, she always supported her children and their interests, enrolling them in countless sport, dance, art, craft and music lessons. She was a wonderful and resourceful cook, making healthy and delicious meals for her family. Her soups and clam chowder were family favorites. A lifelong learner and traveler, Jacqueline loved music, dance, socializing with friends, and spending vacations with family at the Oregon beach and in Central Oregon. She especially loved traveling with family or to visit family. She once hitched a tent-trailer to the station wagon and loaded kids and a dog into the car — later picking up her mother-in-law — for a summer-long adventure of camping in Alberta, Canada, three other provinces, and Michigan. To this day, her kids describe that as their favorite childhood summer. She took cruises to Alaska with daughters and granddaughters, visited Europe with daughters, and rode trains — by far her favorite mode of travel — with her sisters and children across the U.S. and Canada, visiting New York, California, and Arizona. She pursued her passions despite a profound and progressive hearing loss that was first diagnosed when she was in the sixth grade. Later in life, she received a cochlear implant, allowing her to experience lost sounds and voices again. She loved being a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She is remembered for her generosity of spirit, her infectious laugh, her compassion towards others, and her lifelong commitment to advocating for the less fortunate. Before being widowed, she was active in The League of Women Voters, once serving as an Oregon delegate to the nonpartisan group's national convention. Survivors include daughters Kathleen Holder and husband Russell of Davis, California; Elizabeth Grubb and husband Gary Angelo of Corvallis; Margaret Grubb and partner Walt West of Bend; sons Steven Grubb of Corvallis and David of Honolulu; sister Beverly Wright of Salem; grandson Matt Adamson of Tigard; granddaughters Alessandra and Kalysta Holder of Denver; and great-grandsons Grant Adamson of Tigard and Chris Sella of Tualatin.Her daughter Stephanie Bearse died 2015, granddaughter Sarah Adamson in 2022, and grandson Mike Sella in 2024. Interment will be at Belcrest Memorial Park in Salem, where family members spanning five generations are buried. A celebration of her life is planned for a later date.

Jacqueline Mary Grubb

October 23, 1930 - August 10, 2025