Funeral Services Set For Jackie Lee Houston

Services will be held next week for Palm Springs philanthropist and local television station owner Jackie Lee Houston, the station said today.Houston will be remembered Sept. 23 at 4 p.m. at the Palm Springs Convention Center, and her family asked for donations to one of many charities she supported, in lieu of flowers.

Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet ordered the flag at City Hall to be flown at half-staff in honor of Houston and asked that the annual Festival of Lights Parade in December be held in her honor.

Houston — who died Wednesday at Eisenhower Medical Center following a stroke — was 76 and had been battling pancreatic cancer, Palm Springs city spokeswoman Amy Blaisdell said.”She was a wonderful lady who could always be counted on to help those in need, and she cared deeply for the Palm Springs community she called home for so many years,” Pougnet said. “She truly was our city’s guardian angel and there will never be another Jackie Lee. A bright star has gone out in our city, and we will miss her terribly.”

Houston and her husband co-owned Palm Springs-area television station KPSP-TV.

Houston raised money for the FIND Food Bank, AIDS Assistance Program, Stroke Recovery Center, Angel View Crippled Children’s Hospital and many other Coachella Valley nonprofits. She also chaired the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala, the “biggest event of the Coachella Valley season,” Blaisdell said.

Affectionately known as “Mrs. H,” Houston “was famous for her flair for fashion and a penchant for the color purple,” Blaisdell said. “She was also a spectacular hostess, and her annual Halloween costume party at her Palm Springs home was legendary.

“In 2009, the city of Palm Springs dedicated Jackie Lee Houston Plaza, adjacent to the Palm Springs Convention Center. In 2010, Pougnet named Houston the “guardian angel” of the Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade. Houston was the city’s honorary guest at last year’s holiday tree lighting in downtown Palm Springs.

“I feel very fortunate that I have been lucky enough in life that I can help a little, and I want to encourage everyone who can to do the same. It’s the least we can do,’ she said at the plaza dedication.Houston was one of two Palm Springs residents to win the Chamber of Commerce’s Athena Award twice — once for business leadership and once for public service.

In 1999, she received a star on the Walk of Stars in front of the Palm Springs Art Museum — between the stars of presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.

Jackie Lee McDonald was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington, where she was a member of the Alpha Phi Sorority’s Sigma chapter. She pursued a career in fashion modeling and design and was a local weather reporter in Seattle before marrying James Houston, who would become a prominent real estate developer.

She is survived by her husband, three children and grandchildren.A condolence book is available for local residents to sign at the Palm Springs Public Library, 300 S. Sunrise Way.