This obituary was originally published on Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home.
Jackie Darden, known to those who loved her best as Honey, Mom, Grandma, and Dodo, died on June 18, 2025, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, one month shy of her 79th birthday. Her body succumbed to cancer, but her spirit departed this world leaving a legacy of love, laughter, and the deep affection of those who walked alongside her—family and a healthy population of friends and church family.
We hate cancer more than raking pine straw. It caused Jackie pain and threatened her with fear and uncertainty. In death, it’s true she departs a broken world, leaving a body broken by illness. Yet, in resurrection, she embodies the promise of an eternity with Christ–without pain, without tears, without fear.
Born in Hamlet, NC, on July 18, 1946, to Hilda Myrtle Massengill Overfelt and Truman Louis Overfelt, Jackie’s life was quickly patterned with travel, adventure, and resilience. As a young child, she sailed across the ocean to join her father during the post-WWII occupation of Japan, and again years later when Truman fought with the 187th RCT in Korea. With her brothers Michael, Christopher, and Todd, and her mother Hilda, she crisscrossed continents and coasts: from Germany to Colorado, Massachusetts, California, and finally North Carolina.
At Spring Lake United Methodist Church, she married the love of her life and high school sweetheart, Ernest Joseph “Joe” Darden, on July 3, 1966. Their 58-year marriage was a testimony of patience, humor, and an unexpected affinity for high rise apartment scaling Iguanas, giant aircraft hangar fans, and the Panama Canal. She was a dedicated, loving partner to Joe, and together they raised two sons, Jason Buie Darden and Joel Ransom Darden.
She was Mom for over half a century. She was Grandma for more than two decades; a bold presence in the lives of her grandchildren—Ava Katherine, Bennett Joseph, and Mason Jeremiah—who shined in the light of her silliness, energetic cheerleading, and impatience with their sluggish response to the announcement that dinner was ready. Her hope to be made well was fueled by the desire for more time spent loving her grandchildren.
Jackie tried out a few roles in life: teenage school bus driver, wittiest senior high superlative, PX merchandiser, bowler, softball player, artist, gardener, VBS snack maker, barefoot backyard baseball pitcher, pine straw raker, caregiver, advocate, choir member, family vacation planner, and reunion organizer. She was also a crossing guard for the unappreciative hellions of Pine Forest Junior High and for her friends who needed help at the intersections of their lives.
A videographer way before iPhones, Jackie documented her family’s follies, graduations, weddings, and birthdays with a battered RCA VHS camera and clearly stated direction.
A longtime member of Gardner’s United Methodist Church, Jackie lived out her faith with service behind the scenes; offered in faithful love, and accompanied by more than a few muttered criticisms and grumblings.
She is survived by her beloved Joe; her sons Jason and Joel; daughters-in-law April and Marla; her grandchildren Ava, Bennett, and Mason; her brothers Michael and Todd; and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, church family, and friends who will carry her memory forward with laughter, videos, pictures, and more than a few tears.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Hilda and Truman, and brother, Chris, who all surely greeted her with open arms—and maybe a fresh pot of coffee.
Jackie loved and lived well. If she left something unsaid, it was not “I love you.”
A Service of Death and Resurrection will be held at Gardners Methodist Church on Thursday, June 26 at 2:00 p.m.. The family will receive visitors at Gardner’s prior to the service, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
In her honor, share unfiltered love with your family and friends, support them without limits, and live your lives to the fullest.