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Jacqui (Jacqueline) Garner (née Bromley) passed away on Aug. 8 at the Connecticut Hospice in Branford at the age of 61.

She had battled ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) since being diagnosed on Oct. 23, 2013, but deteriorated rapidly due to respiratory complications in the days before her death.

Jacqui was born in Carlisle, England, on Jan. 8, 1956. She lived for many years in the Chinley-Buxton area of Derbyshire in northern England. She leaves behind her loving husband of 38 years, Simon; and two sons who were the light of her life, Richard and his wife Lauren; and Adam and his girlfriend Carrie. She also leaves her mother Pat Smith of Chinley, United Kingdom. She was predeceased by her three brothers, Steven, Christopher, and Iain.

Jacqui and her family moved to Madison in February 1991 from the Detroit area, where they had lived for a couple of years due to Simon’s job transfer from England. The move to Madison was also a job transfer.

Jacqui was a live-at-home mom for a few years while bringing up her sons, and then worked in a few different jobs before joining Madison Public Schools in September 1997. She loved working there and retired due to her health in April 2015, when she was executive secretary in the Athletics Department at Daniel Hand High School.

Jacqui made many friends through her work for the school and through her natural ability to bring a laugh or a smile to everyone’s face wherever she might have met them. Even during her terrible illness, she positively touched so many of her doctors, nurses, therapists, and caregivers. The DHHS Class of 2015 dedicated their Year Book to Jacqui. When she could no longer go to salons and stores, so many people made a special effort to come to her home to wash or cut her hair, do her nails, provide massage therapy, participate in Book Club discussions, or just to chat and brighten her day. She had a phenomenal memory, and even when she could no longer speak due to her illness, she could use her head-tracking speech computer to great effect!

Her family would like to thank all of those friends, so many in number it is difficult to name them all. But we would like to make special mention and recognition of Lisa Landa, Rachel McNellis, Nancy Lynch, Ree de Capua, Renee Poulter, Magda Grayson, Pam Rottier, Cindi Schneider, Althea Higgins, and Ralph Wygonik. There are so many others, and you know who you are. Our deepest, most heartfelt thanks to you all for your never-ending love, affection, and caring concern for Jacqui. She truly was blessed with the most wonderful friends.

A special thank you also to the wonderful teams at the Guilford VNA, the Connecticut Hospice (both Home Care and In-Patient), the Department of Neurology at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and the ALS Association Connecticut Chapter.

In keeping with Jacqui’s wishes, there will not be a funeral service. Instead, there will be a celebration of Jacqui’s life in the Madison area within the next 4 to 8 weeks at a date and place to be arranged. Details will be circulated in due course.

If you would like to recognize or remember Jacqui, in lieu of flowers, please support the ALS Association by visiting their website at ALSACT.org, where there is a fundraising page in Jacqui’s name, or you can visit her page on the Swan Funeral Home website, dignitymemorial.com/swan-funeral-home-madison.