Delivered on March 5, 2022 at Jackie's Memorial Service

A loving mother, a wife, a daughter, granddaughter, aunt. An artist whose creativity was shown in many ways. A loyal, loving, compassionate friend. If you had the pleasure of being anywhere near Jackie Guerra, you already know these things about her.

My name is Antonio Conner and I met Jackie at Camp Bon Coeur in 1999 when she was 14 years old. Camp Bon Coeur was full of extraordinary people, some are here tonight. I remember being impressed with this little red head kid with braces and with her energy and vitality and the resilience with which she faced the things she was dealing with. I remember her sharing with me that that year might be her last summer at Camp Bon Coeur as she and her family were preparing for a major surgery and she didn't know what the future would hold. I remember hoping to see her the following summer - and when she didn't show up, I worried for her. But she came back the year after that with even more of that energy and vitality and resilience - it was truly impressive.

As we got older, we became friends and I grew to admire a lot about her. She was fierce and unapologetic in the way she lived her life and in the way she loved her friends. She was my favorite drinking buddy. We'd take trips to see each other. In fact, Jackie once drove over 40 hours, round trip, just to spend a few hours with me on my birthday. I can still picture her doing the Cleveland Shuffle in the middle of a bar in Lafayette, LA.

And we had each other's backs. When she needed a change of pace and scenery, she moved down to Louisiana and we were roommates for a while before she moved back here and eventually began building her beautiful family.

Jackie lived her life out loud and she loved hard. The way she talked about Matt, Quentin, Olivia, Dominick and Charlotte, her parents, her brothers and sisters showed she cared for them all very deeply. I count myself lucky to be considered a part of this family.

Despite the challenges of the past few years and dealing with unimaginable loss, Jackie persevered. She loved with everything she had and I learned to be present with the ones I love by watching her do it.

The remarkable thing is that I know I'm not alone in understanding how special she was. Jackie was as dynamic and magnetic as they come, and the community that built up around her is as diverse and strong as she was. You see it represented here today in family, friends old and new, neighbors, colleagues.

Since her passing, the outpouring of love for her has been incredible. And while it's hard to read all the tributes through teary eyes, I see so many people saying the same things - all the right things, all the perfect things, honoring Jackie and remembering her in beautiful ways. It's clear that we all saw the same person - at different levels, different points in time and for different lengths of time - but we all saw the same person.

She was one of the most caring and giving people I know, and even when she didn't have time to spare or she was dealing with her own issues, she made time for us.

And I think, deep down, Jackie knew exactly what she meant to each of us and how much we loved her. She didn't take that for granted.

It's one of the great honors of my life to have been close enough to her to see that clearly. My life would certainly be different if I hadn't met that feisty redhead kid all those years ago.

Jackie, I love you and I've spent the last week trying to figure out how to say goodbye to you, but I'm starting to realize that I don't have to. You are still here with me, you are still here with us. We'll continue to talk about you and share stories. What initially felt like a massive hole has been slowly filling up with memories of you. I will never have another friend like you, not even close. I hope to see you again someday.