Jacqueline Maureen “Jackie” Clinger Handy

PAUL – Jacqueline Maureen Clinger Handy; a big name for a larger-than-life woman. She was born August 12, 1931, number six, following Laverne, Eva, Leland, Mickey and Theyls, and the last of the Clinger kids, making her appearance months after her father died of what is now believed to be an aneurism. Her mother married Frank Slaugh four-and-a-half years later and together they added five more children: Phil, Laurel, Lynn, Dan and Laird, to the family. She always spoke lovingly of her years growing up in a large family with someone always available to work with or make mischief with.

Jackie was very active in high school. She was the drum majorette at Aberdeen High School and the band teacher gave her free rein in the use of his Jeep. She talks of her group of friends pooling their change to put fuel in the Jeep so they could go play. Fifty cents would go a long way in 1948. She loved her high school years and always talked of her many good friends and the wonderful times they had together. She graduated Valedictorian of her class in 1949.

After high school graduation, she chose to go to Albion State Normal School to become a teacher. It was there that she met Leo Donald Handy by chasing him down for the Sadie Hawkins dance. They were married a year later on April 4, 1951, in Aberdeen, Idaho. The marriage was later solemnized in the Idaho Falls Temple. To this union was born five children: Leslie, Jim, Clay, Lynne and Gail.

She was a local and state Music Club president, being chosen as the “Music Woman of the Year” for 1987-88. She served for seven years as a member of the Cassia Regional Hospital governing board. She worked with Christmas Council for ten years and enjoyed her association with the women who worked with her. In 1998, she was chosen by Soroptimist International of the America’s Woman of Distinction, for her involvement in community service. In 2001, the Burley Lions Club presented her with the Citizen of the Year Award and, in 2005, the Mini-Cassia Chamber of Commerce jointly awarded Jackie and Don Minidoka County Businessman and Businesswoman of the year. She served as the Public Affairs director for the Paul Stake for many years and was instrumental in initiating Random Acts of Kindness in this area and getting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints involved in Crop Walk with the local churches.

In January of 2003, Jackie and Don fulfilled a dream they had postponed for several years. They were called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Singapore Mission, serving in Malacca, Malaysia, for 18 months. It was while in Malaysia that they grew particularly close. That prepared them for what was to lie ahead.

We often joked that she had nine lives. When we finally sat down and started counting, it came to more than ten! She recovered from cancer on her ureter in 1971. Then, in 1984, she had an aneurism and she survived to not only tell about it, but complain because she didn’t remember the plane ride to Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2005, they had to redo the aneurism surgery in Boise. The following year she suffered a stroke. It didn’t look like she was going to make it but she survived two more mini-strokes after the first one. On a trip to the cabin, she fell down the stairs and broke a hip. Then, while trying to answer the phone, she fell in the kitchen and broke her shoulder. While opening up the cabin in 2017, she went to the creek for a bucket of water and fell in. The usually slow and shallow creek was swift and deep, overflowing its banks. She clung to a snag for over an hour in that very cold creek water before she was found. Her body temperature was 82° and, with all her problems, they were pretty sure she wouldn’t make it, but she surprised us all! She lived to fall again and shatter her wrist and then, this year fell and broke her ribs. What finally brought her down was a culmination of all that exacerbated by cancer. Anyone who visited got to not only see the tumor growing on her arm, but she wanted them to feel it!

She passed from this life on Sunday, September 29, 2019, in Paul, Idaho, surrounded by her husband, Don, and her four children.

From their family of four married children, Jim having been killed in a truck accident on September 11, 1978, they have loved and enjoyed 28 grandchildren. Those 28 grandchildren gave Jackie and Don 75 great-grandchildren and that number is ever changing. They also now have six great-great-grandchildren with two more on the way and that is a number that will definitely grow!

She is survived by her husband, L. Donald Handy of Paul; and four children, Leslie Bair (Lyle) of Meridian, Clay Handy (Kristine) of Burley, Lynne Williams (David) of Shelly, and Gail Palomarez (Joe) of Heyburn. She is also survived by one sister, Lynn Moyle (Joe) of Star; and four brothers, Leland Clinger (Ila) of American Falls, Phil Slaugh (Doreen) of Moses Lake, Washington, Dan Slaugh of St. George, Utah, and Laird (Nancy) Slaugh of Layton, Utah.

The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, October 4, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Paul Stake Center, located at 424 W. Ellis St., in Paul, with Bishop Dean Stevenson officiating. Burial will be in Paul Cemetery.

Friends may call from 6 until 8 p.m. Thursday, October 3, at Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, and at the church on Friday, from 1 until 1:45 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity.