A graveside service for Mr. John Thomas ‘JT’ Jackson, 94 year old Llano resident, (formerly of Leonard), is scheduled for 3:00 P.M. Sunday, May 5, 2019, at the Leonard Cemetery. Charles Wrenn will officiate. Viewing and Visitation will be from 2:00 P.M. until service time Sunday, May 5, 2019 at the Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Chapel at Leonard.
JT (affectionately called DanDan by his extended family) grew up in Leonard, TX and married his childhood sweetheart, Berta, on May 7, 1944. They had been married nearly 74 years at the time of her death in January, 2018. He proudly joined the United States Army after graduating from Leonard High School and served in the European Theater during World War II as a Tank Commander. After returning from the war, he worked as an auto mechanic with his father-in-law, James Pinkney Sullivan, in Leonard, TX. In 1956, he moved his family to Houston where he was General Manager for Brittain’s Broiler Burger (a chain of hamburger restaurants owned by his brother-in-law, Clovis Brittain). JT was a jack-of-all trades. If he didn’t know how to do something, he figured it out. One of his crowning achievements was the building of a steel hull houseboat, The Nuttin’ Fancy, which proudly cruised up and down the San Jacinto River and the Houston Ship Channel in the late 1950s and early 60s. In 1970, JT and Berta moved back to Leonard and took over running Pink Sullivan’s Western Auto Store. JT served on the Leonard Volunteer Fire Department and the Leonard Police Department. They started Square and Round Dancing again (which they had done when they were younger) and danced with clubs all over Texas, New Mexico and Tennessee. After retirement, they spent half the year for several years "working" at a Square Dance Retreat in Tennessee. Square Dancing kept them both young and helped them to live long and healthy lives. In 1998, when their daughter and son-in-law suggested moving to their ranch in Llano, Berta and JT jumped at the chance. They spent their last years, square dancing and enjoying the beauty of the Texas Hill County. JT passed away at the Llano Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Sunday, April 28, 2019. JT and Berta are or will be buried in the Leonard Cemetery, Leonard, TX.
JT is survived by his sister: Elva Jo Jackson Savage of McKinney, TX; his brother and sister-in-law: Darwin Neal Jackson and wife, Pat, of Blythwood, SC; his daughter and son-in-law: Wilma Jean Jackson Holt and husband, Bill, of Llano, TX; his son and daughter-in-law: Edward Leon Jackson and wife Susan of East Camden, AR; his grandchildren: Lisa Kay Holt Schuchert and husband, Robert, of Katy, TX, Karen Sue Holt Whitman and husband, Dale, of New Braunfels, TX, Brian Christopher Jackson and wife, Cole, of East Camden, AR and Kevin Dewayne Jackson of Petal, MS; his great-grandchildren: Tiffany Nicole Schuchert, Melanie Renee Schuchert, Megan Fay Whitman, Mason Drake Whitman, Kamryn Leigh Jackson, Wyatt Christopher Jackson, Jeremiah Tate Jackson, and Cody Wayne Jackson; his great-great-grandson: Clayton Joseph Schuchert.
JT was preceded in death by his parents, Elvin Leon and Myrtle Etta Burns Jackson, his wife and childhood sweetheart, Berta Jean Sullivan Jackson and his brother-in-law, Johnsie Savage.