Obituary: Rovtar, Mikki (Mcgoldrick)
Even as a young girl Mikki aspired to become an actress.
Fueled by dreams and determination she headed south for Hollywood after graduating from Lewis and Clark High School in 1960.
Under the advice of family friend Eric Johnston (President of the American Motion Picture Association of America), she enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse taking up residence in the Hollywood Studio Club.
Her inquisitive mind and commitment to on-going learning and education led her to complete a two-year program at Lost Angeles City College while pursuing her acting dream at the same time.
With confidence (and some degree of naivete) she approached Jack Warner one evening at a Hollywood gathering and introduced herself as Mikki McGoldrick from Spokane, Washington.
He was impressed and it wasn’t long before she had a contract with Warner Brothers Studio and was featured as their Deb Star of the Year, an honor bestowed on Natalie Wood not too many years previously.
While under contract with Warner Brothers (under her professional name Mikki Jamison), she performed in many of their popular series programs like Wagon Train, Maverick, Adam 12, Seventy-Seven Sunset Strip, The Donna Reed Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and yes, she did date her teenage idol Ricky Nelson and there’s a picture to prove it.
As her career was blossoming, she took a leave of absence for marriage and motherhood.
Her son Jaimie Trueblood was born in 1971.
(Many years later Jaimie went on to become a talented photographer and is a much sought after “stills” photographer in the motion picture industry.)
In the mid 1970s she returned to acting with roles in the Wonder Woman series and two movies, Poco, Little Lost Dog and The Sea Gypsies.
Unfortunately the demands of movie making and motherhood were not compatible, so she pursued a new career and became a licensed real estate broker in the Los Angeles area for a number of years.
She and her childhood friend, Carol Capra, also partnered up in real estate in the Spokane area many years later.
Mikki’s love of the lakes and family brought her back to the Pacific Northwest every summer where Jaimie along with his cousins Petyr and Virgil Beck developed their own connections, to each other and to those special places, Lake Coeur d’Alene and Lake Pend Oreille.
Once a Spokanite, always a Spokanite.
The draw of the Pacific Northwest was strong and in 1990 Mikki moved back to her hometown bringing her future husband with her.
On Christmas Eve, 1992 she and John Rovtar were married and John introduced the community to his interior design talents establishing John Rovtar Design Studio.
Over the years Mikki’s movie star craze was superseded by the “travel bug” and she became a tour director leading tours across the country from the Canadian Rockies to Nova Scotia.
That “travel bug” acted up on multiple occasions.
She was always researching the next trip.
Of course a primary object of her investigations always included the best restaurants.
Anybody familiar with Mikki was aware of her passion for food.
On one occasion she was observed asking the server what the best dessert might be.
When informed there were three favorites, she ordered and ate all three.
Mikki pursued her passions with cheerful enthusiasm and high spirits.
Although grandmothering was something that came late for her, she entered into it with all the excitement and imagination one might predict.
Where for so long there were none, suddenly there was one, then two, three, and four.
Mikki was in her element.
Who says all good things happen while we’re young?
Perhaps it is fitting that Mikki’s last days were spent “up at the lake” getting her boats cleaned and ready for the arrival of the grandchildren.
Following in her father’s footsteps, she and her husband John had become recent members in the Inland Empire Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society and were looking forward to forging new friendships and sharing the boating tradition with their grandchildren.
Her years both at Coeur d’Alene and at Lake Pend Oreille were deeply engrained in her nature and were an integral part of who she was.
Mikki is survived by her mother, Milaine McGoldrick; husband, John Rovtar; son, Jaimie Trueblood, daughter-in-law, Amber Trueblood, grandchildren, Cameron, Dylan, Mason, and Ethan; sister, Molly McGoldrick Beck, brother-in-law, Barry Provorse; “as good as a sister,” Carol Ealy Capra; nephews Petyr and Virgil Beck and their children Kyle, Tess, Violet, Sage, and Mica; uncle, Ray Betts; cousins, Anne Wagstaff (Peter), Wendy Flynn (Larry), Lisa Johns (Justin), Ann Ferguson-Venegas, John Lally (Polly), Lee Letsch (Taysa), Scott Letsch, Paul Ferguson, Tom Pendarvis; her husband John’s children, Angie and Justin and grandchild Luca; numerous McGoldrick cousins, and a cat named Blackie.
A memorial gathering will be held at the Manito Golf and Country Club on Saturday, June 22nd at 1:00 pm.
If one so desires, a contribution in her honor can be made to the Spokane Humane Society (6607 N. Havana St., Spokane, WA 99217) or to a charity of one’s choice.
Like her mother and sister, Mikki was an animal lover.