Richard was born on January 25,1932 to Opal May and Victor Allen Jackson in Davenport Iowa. The youngest of three brothers, he spent his childhood raising rabbits, fishing, and getting into mischief. He fondly remembered his mother’s baking powder biscuits, cakes, pies and cookies. In return, he even gave her a skunk (de-scented) named Gingko as a house pet.
A self-acclaimed average student, he managed to graduate from Davenport High School in 1949, Iowa State University (Chemistry) in 1957 and George Washington Law School in 1965. He was probably the smartest person you ever met; reading esoteric novels, watching Korean soap operas (without subtitles), and solving the daily crossword puzzle in pen. Richard was a devotee of music from Lead Belly and the Foggy Mountain Boys to Gilbert and Sullivan and opera. He studied the stock market and was a skilled day trader.
He served with the Army National Guard; worked as a chemist for the US Department of Agriculture in Peoria Illinois; as a patent examiner at the US Patent and Trademark Office while attending law school at night; as in-house patent counsel at Hooker Chemical in Grand Island, NY; and then at Wyeth Pharmaceutical in Radnor PA.
His acreage in Paoli PA was his pride and joy, and he spent many happy hours on his John Deere tractor mowing the back pasture, fencing, weeding, clearing and burning brush; all torture to his two daughters. He kept a small flock of sheep for as long as we can remember and put out dishes of food for the neighborhood cats in case they got hungry. A favorite pastime was driving to the country auctions in Lancaster and negotiating with the Amish farmers for hay, straw and other necessary things for his hobby farm. Richard created impressive vegetable patches, orchards, and flower gardens to the benefit of many local pollinators. He was a menace to Mr. Groundhog, may he rest in peace. And when not working, you could find Richard at the Frazier diner with family and friends, staying warm by his woodburning stove, watching an Eagles game or a Wallace and Gromit movie with his granddaughters. The friendly wave he gave while driving by in his signature pickup truck will be greatly missed.
He had a love/hate relationship with all the travel his wife Mary subjected him to; and despite the bellyaching did enjoy it; especially the trips to New Zealand and Puerto Rico. Richard loved the Iowa family reunions where he could hang out with all the “real” old-timers and farmers.
Richard is survived by his brothers Victor (Elaine) Jackson of Las Cruces NM, and Peter Jackson from Springfield MO; by his daughters Kelda Marie (Georg Heidelmann) of Kansas City MO and Katharine Ann (Joseph Huebsch) of Golden Valley, MN. He will be greatly missed by his four granddaughters, Amelia and Gretchen Huebsch, and Sophie and Isabel Heidelmann.
A service will be held at Paoli Presbyterian Church.
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