William John Jackson

BILL'S STORY Bill was born August 29, 1927 in Owosso, Michigan. He was the second of three sons. His dad was LeRoy Jackson, and his mother Lillie Jackson. John, whom we called Jack, was the eldest, then came Bill, and then came Charles. His father was a cowboy, and his mother as all women did in those days, was home and worked there. His dad worked for the WPA during the war, and pay was $1 a day. Rent was $7 a month. In approximately 1930, the family relocated to Stewart, Minnesota. He worked at the theater selling popcorn and being an usher when he was 13. He also had a paper route at this time for the St. Paul Dispatch. When he was 14, he went to work with the traveling western show where he tended the Arabian horses by the name of Rex and Chief. The owner of these horses, in his heyday, was the stunt man for Tom Mix, Ken Maynard, and Buck Jones. Bill's job was to take care of Rex who was the stunt horse for Gene Autry's horse Champ, and Chief, who was a pedestal horse. As he tended these animals, one of the horses broke away, and Bill hung onto the lead, and was being dragged down the road. He also was between the horse's legs, and eventually decided to let go. This year was eventful for him and he loved it. At the age of 17, he enlisted into the Marine Corps with his parents' signatures. After basic training at Parris Island South Carolina, he was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for combat training. He then went on to Camp Pendleton (boat basin) for amphibious training. In December, 1945, he was shipped to Guam, and arrived in January, 1946 where he was then shipped to China for occupational forces of WWII. On August 29, 1946, his birthday, he landed back into the United States returning from China. Once home, he enrolled in Rasmussen Business College, after completing his GED, where he took accounting, commercial law, and rapid calculation, etc. While attending college, he worked at Minnesota Mining in the bookkeeping department in the evenings. After completing college, he went to work at Midway National Bank in St. Paul in the bookkeeping department. In March, 1948, he applied for a position with Burroughs Corporation as a service technician. He was hired and went to training in Minneapolis at the Foshay Tower. He also was sent to Detroit for training. He was assigned a walking territory in the east side of St. Paul and one-half of downtown St. Paul, servicing banking equipment. He transferred to Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1950. He worked his territory there, known as a resident point, until 1956 when he transferred to Mankato, Minnesota. He was the resident point there as well. His position was known as an electronic field engineer in 1959. In the fall of 1963, he was approached by Banker's Equipment Service to become a part of their organization in a similar capacity as at Burrough's, but with ownership involved. In January, 1964, he accepted this offer and resigned from Burrough's Corporation. Banker's Equipment Service, Inc. consisted of three employees, including himself. During the following years, employment grew to encompass 20 families or the livelihood for 54 people within these 20 families. He worked at Banker's from 1964 until his retirement in 1990 as president of the corporation. Upon retiring, he & Teddi sold their home in Burnsville, Minnesota, and bought a 40 acre hobby farm, fulfilling a life-long dream, in Hastings, Minnesota. He made multiple improvements to the property while there, and he really enjoyed that life. He had a 10 acre hay field that he would put up into bales twice a year, and they had chickens as well. They rode their horses often and did a fair amount of camping with the horses as well. It was quite fun. Then in 1994, Teddi was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, and was more or less an invalid during the winter, especially, so in 1995, they sold their farm to relocate to Tucson. They bought a ranchette off Freman Road where he continued his improving ways to the property. He built horse facilities and one month after moving there, he was able to bring his beloved horses to the ranch. He was able to remain there for 6 more years at which time the property and animals were sold, and he moved into a development off Old Spanish Trail. In 2008, he was diagnosed with dementia. Over the following five years, the disease progressed into full-blown Alzheimer's, but especially in the final two and a half months of his life. He went to a care home on June 1st, 2013…and he passed away July 1, 2013. Teddi was with him during that time. He adored being a Marine, a business owner, a dad, a husband, horse owner, and grandpa. He is well-remembered and well-loved as he loved deeply. He is respected, and he had pride in his accomplishments. He loved his work and it wasn't work to him because of it. He is deeply missed.