Jacqueline Ann Kozal

September 19th 1933 - March 25th 2026 Born Jacqueline Ann Hernandez on September 19th 1933 to Luis Hernandez and Guadalupe Martinez in San Francisco, CA. They had two daughters, Jacqueline and Claire. She spent her childhood in San Francisco and graduated from Balboa High School. Jackie met the love of her life Robert in 1958 while he was traveling in the Navy. After a brief period of courtship, they married on November 16th 1958 at Church of the Epiphany in San Francisco, CA. She always regarded her wedding day as her proudest achievement and just loved showing her wedding album to everyone. They traveled across the country for their honeymoon and settled in New Jersey to be near Robert's family, but eventually they decided to move back to California to be with Jackie's family. They wanted to start a family, but could not have children of their own and adopted their only son John in 1967. Jackie was an amazing loving and caring mother. She was very protective and always looked out for John to keep him out of harms way well into adulthood, he was always her baby. The family relocated from San Francisco to nearby Millbrae, then eventually settling in the East Bay ...[more]

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Castro Valley in the early 1970's where they purchased their first home on Nichandros St., their second home on Brittany Court and their third home on Jamison Way where they lived for over 30 years. Jackie held several jobs over the years. While in San Francisco, she worked at Crown-Cork & Seal and also held position as an elevator attendant and worked in the gift wrap department at a major department store. Once the family relocated to Castro Valley, she became a homemaker, but decided to go back to work after John was grown to keep herself busy. She was very social and became a dining room hostess at Burger King Restaurant in Castro Valley and just loved talking to her daily customers. Since she didn't drive, she walked all over town to do the family shopping and built friendships wherever she went. She loved food and cooking and the kitchen was her favorite place to be. She had many specialties, but her favorites to make for Bob were Polish pierogie dumplings and Flanky cookies, recipes she learned from her mother-in-law. A hobby she really enjoyed was embroidery. With an eye for detail, she loved to decorate various textiles from tablecloths to dish towels, it was a great and creative outlet for her. After a lifetime in The Bay Area, Jackie and Bob retired to Los Banos, CA in 2006 and enjoyed a peaceful and quiet life there for almost 20 years. Robert passed in October 2025 and a piece of her went with him. After 67 years together her heart was broken and she would never be the same without her lifetime love, she mourned him everyday and just couldn't go on without him. The grief from his death triggered her existing health conditions get worse very rapidly. After a short hospital stay in January 2026, she spent the remaining months of her life at Los Banos Post Acute Nursing Facility and enjoyed the care and attention from the staff there, they were all so very kind and patient with her. After battling poor health conditions for several months, Jackie passed away peacefully on March 25th, 2026 at 6:55pm with her son John by her side. She is now reunited and together with Bob for eternity. She is survived by her son John, sister Claire, niece Jennifer, nephew-in-law Dan and great nieces Megan and Jenna. Bob and Jackie's beloved pet cat Missy is now in the care of their son John. Rest in peace dearest Jackie, your family and friends love and miss you so very much and you are forever in our hearts.