Jacqueline Elizabeth Waters Cole

JACQUELINE ELIZABETH WATERS COLE was born on February 25, 1944 in Indian Head, Maryland. She was the daughter of the late James Carlyle Waters and Vernice Imogene Key Waters, wife of Oscar Jackson Cole, Jr., and mother of Angela Patrice Cole Dixon, Martin Cabral Jackson Cole, and Lisa Jacqueline Cole Queen.

In her early years, Jackie was baptized at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Pomfret, Maryland, where her father was a member. She received her early Christian education at St. Joseph’s and also at the Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Pomonkey, Maryland, where her mother was a member. Upon moving to Washington, DC, she became a member of St. Cyprian Catholic Church in southeast DC, which she attended until she became an adult. Later, in 1980, she joined Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC, where she was active in the Sarah Allen Missionary Society for many years and remained a lifelong devoted parishioner.

Jackie was first educated in the public schools of Washington, DC. She attended Payne Elementary School, Eliot Junior High School, and in 1961 graduated from McKinley Technical High School. She was a Girl Scout, her High School salutatorian and cheerleading team captain. Following high school, she attended Rutgers University before transferring to Howard University at the start of her sophomore year. At Howard, she majored in mathematics (physics minor), was President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, Chairman of People to People (spending one summer in France), Queen of the Army ROTC, and reigned as the 1964 Homecoming Queen. During her sophomore year, she was a member of the Sphinx Court, where she met her beloved husband, Jack.

Jack and Jackie were married on November 27, 1965 in Washington, DC. The couple moved first to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and later to Teaneck, NJ, before returning home to Washington, DC. In Teaneck, she gave birth to the couple’s first two children, Angela and Martin, and in Washington, she gave birth to the couple’s youngest child, Lisa.

She began her career as a systems engineer for IBM, stationed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. She went on to serve in numerous leadership roles at IBM over the course of the next three decades. In addition to working as a corporate executive at IBM, she volunteered on the Bergen County, NJ organizing committee for Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign, at the House of Ruth and at Deborah's Place providing support to women who are domestic violence survivors and unhoused, was active in her children’s schools’ parent teacher organizations, including serving as PTA president, and also formally and informally mentored and encouraged countless young people and junior colleagues.

Jackie loved African American art, was a longtime member of Millennium Arts Salon, and often played an advisory role about its programming. In addition, she loved traveling around the world, cruising with her family and friends, speaking French, and taking long walks in Rock Creek Park with her husband, Jack.

Following an extended period of illness, Jacqueline passed away on Friday evening, November 21, 2025, at Grand Oaks Assisted Living Community in Washington, DC. Jackie leaves to cherish her memory her loving and devoted husband of nearly 60 years Jack, children Angela (Tony), Martin (Michelle), and Lisa (Troy), sister Lois Davis, four granddaughters Sala Queen, Mila Queen, Vivienne Cole, and Niyah Cole, and two grandsons Christopher Dixon and Rashad Fisher, brother-in-law Terrell (Melanie) Cole, nephews David Waters, Michael Waters, Kenneth Waters, and Gerald Waters, Jr., nieces Adrienne Davis (goddaughter), Cheryl Davis, Nicole Briahne, and Nia Cole, and hosts of other relatives, cousins, other in-laws, and dear friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, James and Vernice, her brothers Thomas Waters, Sr. and Gerald Waters, Sr., her sisters-in-law Carrie Cole, Dorothy Waters and Celestine Waters, and her brother-in-law Wayne Davis.

To send flowers or plant a tree in memory of Jackie, please visit our floral store. For those wishing to honor her with a charitable donation, the family recommends the Howard University Hospital Diabetes Treatment Center and the Alzheimer's Association

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To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jacqueline Elizabeth Waters Cole, please visit our floral store.