Jackie’s family wrote the most amazing tribute to her, and I wanted to share it here. It includes something at the end that was completely unexpected that made Mike and me sob. Her family is just so awesome and I really can’t express how much it means to me that they made such a touching gesture.

Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Oswold
November 13, 1978 – August 3, 2012

An artist can be defined as many things. Some are writers, dancers, and musicians. Some build, sculpt or bake beautiful things with their hands. For a rare few, like Jackie, their artistry is simply in how they lived.

The masterpiece Jackie created in her 33 years is awe inspiring. Though she graduated from Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif. and received her degree from the University of Southern California, some of Jackie’s most notable accomplishments were outside of the classroom. With a curious, determined and adventurous spirit, she traveled over four continents. She ran marathons, sky dived and bungee jumped. She scuba dived on the Great Barrier Reef. She white water kayaked down the Colorado River and ziplined through the Redwoods. And, in the last four years, Jackie raised more than $210,000 for brain cancer research.

We’ll miss how Jackie filled a room with her beaming smile, her sparkling green eyes and an infectious laugh that touched your soul. We’ll forever marvel at how she could wear stilettos to a week long trade show or perfectly wrap a gift. We’ll think of her when visiting San Francisco, the city that she loved; watching John Hughes films from the 1980s; or sipping a really good wine. And, we’ll certainly miss how she “brought the party” to any party – from family holidays or a USC tailgate to wedding receptions.

Jackie’s artistry has left a lasting impression on those she touched, including her parents Tom and Robin Oswold; her siblings and their spouses: Stephanie and Thomas Mrus, Jennifer and Lang Tibbils, and Scott and Kari Oswold; her 10 nieces and nephews: Tyler, Drew, Jay and Cade Mrus; Dominic, Jillian and Michaela Tibbils; and Faith, Logan and Grady Oswold; her grandfather Tom Oswold; her 15 aunts and uncles; 14 cousins and their families; her friends, her InVision family, those in the brain tumor community, and countless others.

Though it breaks our hearts to lose her, we know she joins family and friends that have gone before her, including her grandparents, Dorothy Oswold and Stan and Joyce “Perky” Sandstrom; her uncles, Tracey Oswold and Gary Sandstrom; and Jackie’s special little angel, Maddie Spohr.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her memory to the National Brain Tumor Society, 124 Watertown St., Ste. 2D, Watertown, MA. 02472 or via the Internet at http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/goto/JackieOswold.