Jacqueline Marcia McLeod

Jacqueline McLeod: Quiet Dignity

Jacqueline McLeod was born on November 7, 1966, on the beautiful Island of Jamaica. She was the 2nd child for Phyllis (Beverly) Pascoe and the 1st child for Carlton (Bowza) McLeod. She was nicknamed “Mummy” because she had a very grown-up personality and a sassy mannerism. She would braid (cornrow) all her female cousins and baby sister Donna’s hair for school.

She was extremely close with her grandmother (Madda Mac). At age 10, Jackie, and her sister Donna (age 9) migrated to Canada in 1977 to their father at the insistence of her grandmother because of the political violence and the fact they were getting older and teenage pregnancy was a real concern.

Jacqueline was an amazing big sister to Donna McLeod. When Donna got pregnant, she worked two jobs to ensure that Donna went back to college to earn her degree in Chemical engineering. She did not want her working for minimum wages.

Jacqueline earned a degree in Social Work and worked in a variety of industries. She met Richard Oosterveld in 1987 and they made a life together for over a decade until she left Canada in 1998 for a new life in Georgia.

After many years of saying she did not want to be a mother, in 2000, she had a son, Christopher McLeod Little. She adored her son and did her best to ensure he had love, structure, and the things he needed and wanted.

Jacqueline was an introvert but she was vibrant to the people who knew her. She was a loyal daughter, a loyal sister to her siblings and a genuine friend. She loved to dance and she loved interior decorating. She spent many years doing property management.

The year 2022, was extremely challenging. After experiencing weakness in her right foot that seem to get worse as the weeks went by. She proceeded to try to get a diagnosis from an orthopedic doctor, internal medicine, and a neurologist. After her conditions worsen, she was confined to a wheelchair. In November 2022, her neurologist sent her to the hospital for a spinal tap and she was told she had an autoimmune disease known as Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP).

The Neurologist prescribed all the treatments known to slow the progression of this disease but none of them worked, in fact, her systems worsened and her paralysis moved up her body, into her chest, eventually it took her life after it limited her breathing. On Friday, May 12, 2023, at 8:14 she took her last breath.

Jackie leaves behind:

Phyllis Pascoe and Carlton McLeod (parents)

Christopher McLeod Little(son

Siblings: Derrick White, Donna McLeod, Winston Riley, Richard Riley, Kevin Reid, Kirk McLeod, and CJ Sibble-McLeod

Stepsister: Michelle McLeod

Niece: Krystal Kelleher McLeod, and Dereka White

Nephew: Kevan Reid

Grandnephew: Greyson Williford

Partner: Sanford McCoy