Kenneth S. Jackley; Ex-Service Station Owner

Kenneth S. Jackley, former owner of a Union 76 service station in downtown Ventura, died Tuesday after a lengthy illness. He was 74.

Jackley was born May 26, 1922, in El Monte and grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. In 1949, he and his wife, Jo Ann, were married in Las Vegas.

“He had a service station then, too,” Jo Ann Jackley said.

She said the stretch of coast between Ventura and the Santa Barbara County line is what attracted the family to the area 26 years ago.

“We loved the ocean,” she said. “We had been camping at Faria [County] Park for years and decided to move there.”

The Jackleys first moved to a home on the Rincon, where they lived for 13 years. They later moved to Ventura.

Jackley ran his Union 76 station in Ventura for 21 years before his retirement.

Despite a keen interest in cars and spending long hours under the hoods of vehicles, Jackley never built a hot rod or embarked on a restoration project, his wife said.

“We raised three kids instead,” she said.

Jackley was a member of Lexington Masonic Lodge 104 in El Monte and was a Master Mason. He was also active in the Methodist church, and with the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts.

In addition to his wife, Jackley is survived by sons John of Ventura and Donald of Fresno; daughter Cheryl Jackley of Ventura; an uncle, Erman Tucker of Cayucos, and three grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura. Services will follow at 3 p.m. at the mortuary. He will be cremated.