Sally Ann Shiovitz Jackson; Camarillo Resident

Longtime Camarillo resident Sally Ann Shiovitz Jackson died late last month. She was 91.

Shiovitz Jackson was born Oct. 21, 1906, in Detroit. The oldest of 10 children, she started working at 16 to help the family, according to her brother, Dr. Louis Shiovitz of Birmingham, Mich.

She worked as a secretary and later as a bookkeeper. Although she was described as shy, her brother said she made a bold move in her late 30s by moving out of Detroit, heading first for San Francisco and later to Los Angeles.

“It was almost like she did it on a dare,” her brother said. “It was something that was quite different from her personality. She wanted some adventure.”

She continued to work as a bookkeeper and secretary, and at one point worked for a Hollywood studio. In her 40s, she met and married Newton Leff Jackson.

“She always had boyfriends, but she was very particular,” her brother said. “When she met her husband, it was like love at first sight.”

The couple had two sons and a daughter. Her husband died three years ago.

Two decades ago, the couple retired to Leisure Village in Camarillo and became active in volunteer work. Shiovitz Jackson volunteered for the Camarillo chapter of the Brandeis University Woman’s Club, and her work with the group earned her a “Woman of the Year” award in the ‘80s, her brother said.

She also worked as a volunteer with her husband teaching high school dropouts at Gateway School in Camarillo for more than 10 years. The couple also spent time transcribing books into Braille that were sent to blind children in Africa.

“Volunteering was very important to her,” her brother said.

In addition to her brother, she is survived by her daughter, Susan, of Westlake Village; her sons, Douglas and Richard, of Woodland Hills; another brother, Harry Shiovitz of Southfield, Mich.; and a sister, Pearl LeVine of Silver Spring, Md.

Interment was at Forest Lawn Cemetery, and services were held at Mount Sinai Memorial Park and Mortuary.