Portsmouth- Audrey Claire Jackson-Keller, 82, Simonds Road , died Sunday , December 5, 2019 , at her home.

A native of Portsmouth, she was born May 29, 1937, on Hospital Hill, to Madeline C. (McIntyre) Jackson and Howard C. Jackson. In her early years, Audrey and her family lived in the Goodwin Mansion, on Islington Street before it was moved to its current location in Strawberry Banke. Audrey was a graduate of St. Patrick School and Portsmouth High School. Following her senior year in high school, Audrey and her family moved to Hampton, where she started her professional life with the Dunfey family at Lamie's Inn.

In 1978 Audrey returned to Portsmouth eventually accepting a position as executive director of the Seacoast Chapter of the American Red Cross. During her career with the Red Cross Audrey met her future husband Robert Koller, they would eventually marry in 1991.

While with the Red Cross Audrey facilitated support groups for family members of troops serving overseas, assisted people left homeless by natural disasters and house fires and underwent extensive disaster training . Because of her training she was among the local volunteers who spent months rebuilding South Carolina, following the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in September of 1989.

After leaving the Red Cross, Audrey held positions at Delaware Group , Lore, and New York Life, before accepting a job a Bottomline Technologies.

With Robert, Audrey developed a love of boating and they were always to be found on the water during boating season. Over the years, they had boats docked in Eliot and Kittery, Maine, and often took part in the parade of boats. In addition she and Robert shared a love of cars, books, RVs and entertaining.

Both fiercely independent, they purchased a home in Kittery, Maine, which they gutted and rebuilt from the cement floor slab into a sprawling home that afforded them various spots to be solitary.

For years, Audrey was an active participant in the Portsmouth Rotary Club, volunteer at numerous barbecues, Christmas tree sales, handling the newsletter and more. Audrey was awarded the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow for service to Rotary International.

Among her outside interests, Audrey enjoyed spending time on the beach, especially Short Sands; reading British mysteries; spending time with friends and family at the Goldenrod in York, Maine; perusing jewelry at the Little Bull, while chatting with the owner and family friend Ed Bullock, and his wife Michelle; dancing at powwows; going for long drives with no particular destination; touring houses; visiting antique shops and books stores; going to the Players Ring, or other local theaters, with friends and family, always hoping to one day become a published author, Audrey journaled all her life and left notebooks full of her memories.

Audreys progressive illness was diagnosed in July 2014, and she underwent corrective surgery in October 2014. In November of 2018 Audrey moved in with her daughter Stephanie in an addition she helped to design.

Audrey was preceded in death by her husband Robert Koller in 2010, her sister, Patricia Davis, in 1997 and her brother, William Jackson , in 2018.

Survivors include her daughters, Christine French and her children Nicholas and Madeline French, Stephanie Ross and her spouse Bonnie Konopka, and their son, Jake Teti, all of Portsmouth; her son David Ross-Lyons and his husband, Gil Ross-Lyons, of Berwick, Maine, her sister in law , Germaine Jackson, of Gorham, New Hampshire; her nephews, Sean Davis and his wife, Stephanie, and their children of Tampa, Florida, Joseph Jackson and his wife Carolynn, and their children of Las Vegas, Christopher Jackson and his wife Dayna, and their children, Daniel Jackson of Las Vegas Nevada, and John Jackson of Westborough, Massachusetts; and lifelong family friend Conrad Seaman of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Friends and family are invited to the JS Pelkey and Son Funeral Home, 125 Old Post Road Kittery, Maine 03904, on Sunday, January 19, 2020. Visitation will be held from noon to 2pm , a celebration of her life will begin at 2pm followed by a light luncheon and time to reminisce til 4pm. Longtime family friend Jeffrey Pelkey is entrusted with her arrangements. Online condolences may be made by visiting www.jspelkeyfuneralhome.com . In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in her memory to the Hydrocephalus Association, 4340 East West Highway, Suite 905, Bethesda Maryland 20814-4447, or to the Portsmouth Rotary Club, Attn: Club Treasurer, POB 905, Portsmouth, NH 03820-0905. Private Burial will be held in the spring at Calvary Cemetery in Portsmouth.