Obituary of Hildur Trunko

Hildur Elfreda (Jackie) Trunko died peacefully on Tues., July 10th in Eugene, OR with her daughter, Lonnie Gail, at her side. She was 93. Jackie was born at home on October 28, 1918, to John and Ingrid (Medhus) Jacobson, in Columbus, ND. She moved to Long Beach, CA in 1941, and following the attack on Pearl Harbor, she enlisted in the WAAC in February, 1942. She attained the rank of PFC as a recruiter and reenlisted at the end of the war as a Tec4. She described her war years as one of the most important times of her life and made lifelong friendships, including two she still kept to the end, Dee Habeeb of St. Joseph, MO and Sue Notartomaso of West Newton, MA. Jackie represented the WAC, riding in the pace car at the 1946 Indianapolis 500 along with 2 other women from the Navy and the Marines. On Nov. 16, 1946, she married Thomas Daniel Trunko in Clinton, Indiana. They had 4 children and eventually moved to San Bernardino, CA, where she worked in the food service department at the San Bernardino County Hospital, retiring in 1980. She moved to Oregon in 1990, living first in Klamath Falls and then in Junction City until 2007, when she moved to Sierra Oaks in Eugene. Jackie was a life long gardener with a "green thumb" and an active member of the Junction City Senior Center. She loved her family, friends and country, and celebrated holidays like Christmas with gingerbread houses and Halloween with great costumes and candy for all. Jackie loved to cook and bake, and made many Norwegian foods that she had learned form her mother. Jackie was preceded in death by her parents; sisters: Elyvon Curran and Thordis Brewer; brothers: Reuben Jacobson, Gordon Jacobson, and Arthur Jacobson. Survivors include her son, Thomas Daniel Trunko Jr. of Kasilof, AK; daughters: Peggy Felix Leslie of Eugene, Julie Ann Saucedo of Medford, OR and Lonnie Gail Trunko of West Glacier, MT; sister-in-law, Marian Jacobson of Vancouver, WA; niece Bonnie Plein of Oceanside, CA, along with several other nieces and nephews; 8 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren. No service is planned. Remembrances to Women in Military Service Foundation, Dept. 560, Washington, DC 20042-0560.