James Walter Jackson: A native East Tennessean turns 100, reflects on life
On his milestone birthday this month, a lifelong resident reflects on a hundred years of living. James Walter Jackson is a member of the Greatest Generation, one of less than 100,000 members still living in the United States. He still lives in East Tennessee, where he was born in April 1924. He is better known as Jim, Jimmy, and Grandaddy to all who know and love him. In this story, Jimmy shares his still-sharp memories and the wisdom he has learned from a century of living.
Jim was one of three children living in in a house in Knoxville. Life was hard but simpler then. They raised a cow, a hog and chickens within the Knoxville city limits. He has wonderful tales of feeding the hogs and scratching them behind their ears and then, at Thanksgiving they would butcher hogs, make sausage, and hang the hams to cure. Jim recounts looking forward to the 4th of July when they would always pick blackberries and make jam and cobblers (still one of Jimmy’s favorite desserts).
One of his chores as a child was to tend to the cow and move it around the field, so that she would have different areas to graze. When Jimmy was 9 years old, he got a job at the Knoxville News Sentinel where he would carry the daily paper on bike. To this day, he still reads the Knoxville News Sentinel daily and always works the crossword puzzle. Jimmy had many other jobs such as delivering groceries on his bike from the White Store, caddying at Willow Springs golf course, and whatever he could do to help the family during the Depression.
He loved football, but his mother, Emma, would not let him play. She took good care of him and was quite protective. He told one story about asking repeatedly for her to let him go to the University of Tennessee’s football game. Finally, about 30 minutes before game time, she reluctantly gave in. He and his buddies put out their thumbs to hitch a ride to the stadium. In a matter of minutes, a couple from out of town stopped to ask them how to get to Shields-Watkins stadium. The boys hopped in their car and arrived at the stadium just in time to sneak in with the help of a kind policeman.
Jimmy attended Knoxville High School, but during his senior year, everything changed on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor some of the boys did not come back to school because they went to enlist for the war. Jimmy finished his senior year and graduated in the spring of 1942, but then he went to enlist. Jimmy headed to sign up, but during the health screen, he was diagnosed with high blood pressure. He was sent to Fort Oglethorpe for 11 days. While in the hospital, after checking his blood pressure for days, he was sent home with a 4F classification. He was devastated. The health screening revealed that while caddying at the golf course, he sustained a heat stroke causing his high blood pressure.
Upon hearing the disappointing news, Jim went to stay with his grandparents out in the country. He spent his time fishing, exploring the land, and reflecting on his life’s direction. Jim struggled during this time, as he felt such patriotism and an immense desire to help in some way with the war effort. He left the countryside and headed back home to Knoxville to seek jobs helping in the war efforts.
In 1942, Jimmy took a job at Rohm and Haas Company in the factory manufacturing plexiglas acrylic, which was needed for aircraft windshields and canopies. Jimmy was a hard worker, but somehow found time to notice a beautiful blonde girl, named Mary Elizabeth "Betty," working at Rohm and Haas. She was pretty, always smiling, fun to be with, and they both fell in love. Betty and Jimmy made plans for a beautiful life. At the same time, Jimmy had heard news about a top-secret bomb factory being built near Knoxville. In April 1944, Jimmy went to work in the “secret city,” Oak Ridge, at X-10, which was the World War II code name for the factory.
Betty and Jimmy married in May 1944. They decided to take a bus to Ringgold, Georgia and get married without telling anyone. Then they took a bus back home and went to each of their separate homes. Shortly after, the news of their marriage got out and a few weeks later they moved into a small apartment together. Betty and Jimmy were thrilled with the birth of their son, Gary, born in May 1945.
Rumors around X-10 were: “What are we working on?”, “It’s definitely something about the war!”, “Are we building a bomb?” In August 1945, the Oak Ridgers began to understand the magnitude of their contribution to the war. No one working in Oak Ridge knew the whole story, but the Secretary of the War Department spoke of our “grateful nation” and congratulated each who worked hard in the “secret city.”
Patriotism was always a motivating factor for Jimmy. As one of the Greatest Generation, he was patriotic, driven, and a team player with an incredibly strong work ethic. Working on the Manhattan Project was simply a way to help the United States win the war and “the right thing to do!”
Jimmy, Betty, and Gary loved their lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Church, woodworking, bowling, gardening, golf, friends and family made a wonderful life. After retiring from X-10, Jimmy spent many hours volunteering at Central Baptist Church. He taught Sunday School for over 60 years. He mowed greens at Centennial Golf course until he turned 96. Betty and Jimmy were married almost 70 years, and truly had a wonderful life!
Jimmy’s two grandchildren, and their spouses, eight great-grandchildren, and his daughter in-law are so proud of this centenarian! He possesses so many attribute: Godliness, duty, honor, reverence, patriotism, loyalty, fidelity, and trustworthiness, which have all marked his life.
This article was written by Shirley Jackson, Jim Jackson's daughter-in-law.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: James Walter Jackson: A native East Tennessean turns 100
