Jacqueline Trudeau Fox

Jacqueline T. Fox, beloved mother of Connie Fox, Tim Fox, and Tony Fox, passed away quietly and peacefully in the early morning hours of June 27. She had just returned from her granddaughter’s wedding on Block Island, RI, an event she was determined to attend, and where she was able to meet her infant great granddaughter for the very first time. These were her last and greatest wishes, and she accomplished both.

Born in the factory town of North Adams, MA, Jacqueline Constance Trudeau was raised in a large, tight-knit French Canadian farm family with eight siblings in this rural Northwestern Massachusetts community. She was born on Dec. 31, 1926, the daughter of Earnest Trudeau and Elise Lemoine. She and her four sisters were known in the community as fun-loving and stunning beauties who were aggressively pursued by the many young, post-war bachelors attending nearby Williams College, in Williamstown, MA. One of those bachelors, Irving Patrick Fox (Pat), from Brooklyn, NY, became her husband when they were married on July 21, 1948, in North Adams. She remained married for 40 years before the marriage ended in divorce. She then relocated to Sarasota, FL to be close to several of her siblings who lived in the area, and to start a new, single life, at age 56.

Known among her friends and family as a fiercely independent woman and devoted mother with an effusive personality and well developed sense of humor, Jackie Fox had a lust for life, loved a great joke and had a ready smile for anyone she met. She always possessed a positive attitude throughout her life, even when faced with significant health challenges in her later years, including her loss of eyesight from Macular Degeneration in her 70’s. She never complained or felt sorry for herself, and always put others before herself, especially her children.

She was an accomplished athlete and loved competing playing golf and tennis, and she also enjoyed skiing, water skiing, swimming, card games and travelling, among many other activities. Though she picked up golf late in life, she became so good at the game, she and her older sister Teresa, became fondly known as “The Gold Dust Twins,” for their ability to separate the male members of Bent Tree County Club in Sarasota, from their money. Jackie was also a huge hockey fan, and never missed attending her sons’ high school hockey games. She also enthusiastically attended many of her grandsons’ hockey games, including a tournament in 2004 in Quebec, in the dead of winter.

She was also a woman of great fortitude and strength, having suffered a number of personal tragedies in her life, including the death of her mother at age six and the burning of her family home to the ground on Christmas Eve, when she was a teenager. No amount of tragedy or sadness, could diminish her positive attitude and disposition. She was kind, generous, gregarious, loving, fun, passionate, intelligent and self-assured. She was an enthusiastic reader of the New York Times prior to losing her sight and would eagerly share tidbits of information she picked up in the paper with her family, promptly eliciting the response from her children, “Don’t tell me, you read it in the New York Times?”

Jacqueline T. Fox is survived by her three children; Connie, Tim and Tony, and seven grandchildren; Molly, Jessica, Cydney, Dylan, Patrick, Charlie and Sarah. Shortly before her death, she was thrilled to become a great grandmother to Poppy Lee Kenny, who was born this past January.

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, July 9, at 10:00am at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 7900 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, FL. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Florida Council for the Blind.