Dorothy Jackson was a true connoisseur of Atlanta. She loved the Varsity; she and her friends affectionately called it the Country Club of North Avenue. She was a customer for Wender & Roberts Pharmacy, not a national drugstore chain. And above all, she would never drink soda from a blue can.

“She never drank a Pepsi,” said her son, Clay Jackson, the managing director of ZWJ Investment Counsel and an Atlanta resident. “She loved Atlanta institutions. I loved that about her.”

Not only was Mrs. Jackson loyal to her city, she had the same fierce loyalty for her family, church and friends.

She was a beacon of light in the lives of many, said her son, Glen Jackson, principal of Jackson Spalding, a public relations and marketing firm, and an Atlanta resident. One of her favorite places to volunteer was the Atlanta Day Shelter for Women and Children, he said.

“She spent a considerable amount of her time there,” Glen Jackson said. “And she energized a group of ladies from North Avenue Presbyterian to go with her and pray for the people and serve the people there. That’s what she loved to do.”

Dorothy Owens Jackson, called Dot by her friends and an Atlanta resident, died Wednesday at Piedmont Hospital from injuries sustained in a fall. She was 84. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at North Avenue Presbyterian Church. A private burial was held earlier. H.M. Patterson and Son, Spring Hill Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

The Rev. Scott Weimer, North Avenue Presbyterian senior pastor, said Mrs. Jackson’s support at the church was invaluable.

“Even as the church went through many challenging years of neighborhood changes that compelled others to leave for more convenient churches in the suburbs, Dot and her close circle of friends remained faithful and active in their involvement in the life of the church,” Rev. Weimer said. “As the congregation began to grow again in members and in diversity, Dot was exceptionally gracious in the way she welcomed people from all over the city and all over the world into her circle of love and friendship.”

Her circle of friends was wide, Glen Jackson said.

“I called her the Florence Nightingale of Buckhead,” he said. “She was all over the place checking on and caring for all of her friends.”

And she did it with the quiet grace that was Dot Jackson, her sons said.

“She did not spend her life building a business or a resume of various board positions,” said Clay Jackson. “She was not interested in social standing. What she was interested in was spending her great deal of energy motivating others to do good work in a quiet and hands-on way.”

Mrs. Jackson, a widow, is also survived by a third son Doug Jackson of Atlanta; her brother Charles Inman Owens Jr. of Albany and five grandchildren.