In Memoriam: Alfred Rich Jackson (1908—77)

Alfred Rich Jackson, a member of the Lycoming Law Association, died June 13, 1977.  A memorial service was held by the court.

Read the memorial resolutions:

In The Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County.

In the matter of the death of Alfred Jackson.

To The Honorable, The Judges of The Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania:

The Committee appointed by Your Honorable Court to prepare an appropriate Minute upon the death of Alfred R. Jackson, Esquire, submits the following:

MINUTE BY THE COURT AND BAR OF LYCOMING COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, UPON THE DEATH OF ALFRED R. JACKSON, ESQUIRE.

With profound sorrow, the Court and Bar have received the announcement of the death of Alfred R. Jackson, Esquire, on June 13, 1977.

Alfred Rich Jackson was born in Williamsport on November 5, 1908.  He was the son of Anthony R. Jackson, who was a member of the Bar of Lycoming County, and Josephine Mudge Jackson and was one of five children of this well-known Williamsport family.

Early in his scholastic training he attended the Stony Brook School, Stony Brook, Long Island, from which he graduated in 1926.  His alma mater was Davidson College, North Carolina, from which he graduated with A.B. Degree in 1931 in a class made up of such outstanding persons as the former Secretary of State, Dean Rusk. He received his LL.B. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1935 and was admitted to the Bar of Lycoming County on April 7, 1937.  Membership in the Supreme and Superior Courts and the Federal Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania followed in 1938.

After having served his preceptorship in the office of the late J. Fred Katzmaier, Esquire, and directly after admission to the Courts of Lycoming County, Mr. Jackson opened his office on the Second floor of the Williamsport National Bank Building where he was located until expansion by the Bank required him to move his office to the present location at 10 West Fourth Street in February, 1970. Early in 1964, Mr. Jackson, in association with his long time friend, J. Frederick Gehr, Esquire, opened a part-time law office in Muncy in the portion of the Jackson home previously occupied by the office of the late physician Dr. T. Kenneth Wood. Beginning in 1969, Mr. Jackson was also associated in the practice of law in Williamsport with Scott A. Williams, Esquire. These associations continued with both Mr. Gehr anti Mr. Williams until Mr. Jackson’s death.

Mr. Jackson accepted the call of his country in 1943 when he was commissioned a naval officer of the United States, serving as a communications officer in the Atlantic and Caribbean until the tune of his honorable separation from the service at the conclusion of World War II, with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

His peers honored him by electing him President of the Lycoming Law Association in 1952.  At various times he served as Solicitor for the Borough of Muncy, the Muncy Borough Municipal Authority, and at the time of his death had just been reelected for another term as Solicitor for the Muncy School District. He served four years as Assistant District Attorney of Lycoming County.

He was named Boss of the Year in 1975 by the Penn Laurel Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association.

He was very active in his community life and his horizons for service to mankind and to his Lord, whom he served so well both at home and in wider fields, were broad and well known. He was an active member and an elder of the Muncy Presbyterian Church, and a former President of the Muncy Rotary Club. He held membership on the Local Advisory Board of the Salvation Army. He held membership on the Board of Camp Susque and on the Board of the Hughesville Camp Meeting Association. The Stony Brook School, from which his education had begun, saw him as a member of its Board for many years until his death, and as President of the Board of Trustees for some period of time. His crowning work, however, was his connection with the Christian Business Men’s Committee International. A charter member and founder of the Williamsport Christian Business Men’s Committee, he early became interested in the entire work of this organization and in 1958 was elected to its international Board of Directors. Mr. Jackson dedicated his life to the singular purpose of Christian Business Men’s Committee, which was to acquaint men in the marketplace with the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. He served on the International Board for four separate terms and was twice voted to the high position of International Chairman, first in 1961 and later in 1973, and during these years, he had the responsibility of guiding and administering thousands of local committees both in the United States and abroad in forty countries. Because of his years of experience as spiritual leader of this organization, he sensed that the organization should take a different direction and was monumental in changing the Christian Business Men’s Committee organization from a 16 member international executive board to an 8 member national, policy-making board, with an executive branch of full-time Christian workers. This change has allowed the ministry to be used in a much greater way.

By invitation, he attended many of the Presidential Prayer Breakfasts in Washington, D. C.

His personal interests included mountain climbing reading and music. He was an avid mountain climber, having climbed many mountains around the world and often attended such music events as the Bach Festival in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. One of his most favorite vacation spots was a beautiful little town on the side of the Swiss Alps known as Grindelwald.

He is survived by his widow, Jane Niell Jackson and his daughter, Gloria Jackson Clegg.

Mr. Jackson was a very able lawyer and counselor, and he conscientiously followed seminars and continuing legal education sessions in the areas of law in which he practiced. He was held in high esteem by all members of the Bar, who found him a capable, careful and friendly co-worker in his profession.

It is difficult to pay an adequate and meaningful tribute to a man whose life has touched so many of his fellow men as richly as had that of Alfred Jackson. Whether we survey his life from the standpoint of a lawyer, a citizen, a beloved husband and father to his family, or a dedicated and truly ‘‘born again’’ Christian, we see only the highest qualities that make such a man, and we feel the desire to give thanks that we had the good fortune to be touched and influenced by his presence and outstanding example. Would that we had more men of such character and devotion to the building of the lives and the future of their fellow men!  This Bar, this community, all the areas where he worked, at home and especially the Christian community around the world, will note his passing and will pay quiet tribute to his life.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: that through the death of Alfred R. Jackson, his wife and daughter have lost a devoted husband and father, and the Bar of Lycoming County has lost an able and respected member; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that these Resolutions be spread at length upon the minutes of the Court of Lycoming County and that copies thereof he sent to his wife and daughter.

AND IT IS ALSO RESOLVED: that this Court and its Bar here extend to his widow and daughter a deep and heartfelt expression of sympathy in this, the time of their earthly separation from their loved one.

Respectfully submitted,

Scott A, Williams
John C. Youngman, Sr.
John P. Campana
Hon. Thomas Wood
George M. Hess
J. Frederick Gehr, Chairman