Jackie Donaldson

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Born in Chicago to parents from the Dominican Republic, Jackie learned Spanish before English, and to this day, occasionally lapses into Spanglish when tongue-tied. Jackie lived in the Windy City until the age of five, when California’s blue skies beckoned and her family moved to Cerritos, a suburb of Los Angeles.

In the early 1970s, Cerritos was California’s fastest-growing city and it turned out to be the geographical and educational center of Jackie’s life. She graduated from Cerritos High School and attended Cerritos College, working toward a degree in criminal justice. The births of her three children — and becoming a full-time mom — put her higher education on permanent hold.

Jackie began her working career as a waitress, then became a medical assistant for an OB/GYN, where she worked for 14 years, helping women prepare for their adventure of motherhood. In 2004, Jackie joined Long Beach-based Homeport Insurance Company, where she is now the manager of its Pier C office. She’s responsible for five terminals in the Port of Los Angeles / Long Beach, the Coast Maritime Lines Bureau, two terminals in San Diego and one in Port Hueneme.

Homeport is a division of SSA Marine, where she met the love of her live, as she describes him – “that hunky cargo vessel Superintendent Scott Donaldson.” Jackie and Scott were married in 2013. Jackie has three adult children: Robert, an IT head for Pacific Dental Services; Christina, a Deputy District Attorney in Orange County; and Pablo, a food services technician at UC Irvine Medical Center. Jackie and Scott’s merged family of 15 includes her three grown children and four grandchildren, and Scott’s three adult children, and his five grandchildren. It’s complicated.

Jackie joined the posse for the Black Hills portion of the 2017 Sturgis Bucket List Ride, riding on the back of Scott’s Harley, and rode in a pickup truck for three days of the 2023 trip.

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