The sparkle in Jean Jackson’s eyes doesn’t belie her personality — she loves life.

At age 82, Jackson is filled with stories of how that life evolved, including of how she came to be raised in the Methodist Orphanage in Raleigh, N.C.

Losing her parents at a young age was tragic. She was 2 years old when her mother died; 8 years old when her father died.

“I have the faintest memory (of my mother),” Jackson said. “I feel like I can remember my dad lifting me up to look at her in her casket.”

The youngest of seven children, Jean and her next oldest sister were placed in the orphanage. Her other brothers and sisters were grown and on their own.

One of the sisters was a registered nurse and took charge of the family. While several of the other siblings offered to take in the two youngest, the sister in charge decided it would be best that they moved to the orphanage.

Jackson wasn’t aware of it at the time, but there had been several people who wanted to adopt her from the home. The sister refused, saying she didn’t want Jackson to lose her name.

Jackson looks back on those years with delight, rather than regret. She was one of about 325 children at the orphanage. She remembers they had a swimming pool and an outdoor skating rink.

She remembers seeing chauffeured limousines pull up out front and people getting out of the cars, bringing gifts or money to the home.

She remembers never having to wear hand-me-downs.

“We always had new shoes and clothes,” she said.

And that was during the Depression, when many children living with their families struggled to get by.

She also remembers caring teachers and housemothers and a school nurse that she talked to for hours in the night when her assigned work duty was the infirmary.

Jackson said while memories of her life at the orphanage are good, it’s not to say that she didn’t miss having her parents.

“At the time, we knew we were raised in a different environment and that I would have given anything to have had a mom and dad like everyone else,” she said.

Throughout her stay at the orphanage, Jackson stayed in touch with those brothers and sisters. There are three of the seven alive, including the older sister who lived at the orphanage with her. Myra Hobbs is now 90 years old and living in Elizabeth City, N.C., where Jackson was born. She is flying to Muskogee for the holidays to visit with Jackson and her family.



Rules learned during

Pearl Harbor tragedy

Jean Jackson remembers exactly where she was when Pearl Harbor was bombed Dec. 7, 1941.

“You don’t forget where you were when something happened if you were where you weren’t supposed to be,” Jackson said.

She was 14 years old and in a movie theater in Raleigh, N.C., with a boy from the Methodist Orphanage, where both lived.

“They turned on the lights and announced what had happened,” she said. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Where is Pearl Harbor?’ But we knew we need to get back to the orphanage.”

Even though she broke the rules by going to the movies that day, that was not the best course to take in life.

“I learned early on that life was so much easier when you followed the rules,” she said.



She takes the blessings

as they come

Jackson counts her blessings in life, large and small: Both she and her husband are in relatively good health; she has a great family; being retired, she doesn’t have to get up and put on her makeup every day; and — she didn’t win a car on “The Price is Right.”

Jackson appeared on the show in 1989 and won $21,000 in prizes.

Instead of a car, she won a travel trailer, tickets to a baseball game, a trip to Mexico, an elaborate popcorn machine, two pieces of exercise equipment and a bedroom suite.

Jackson didn’t take all her prizes, because she didn’t want to pay taxes on things she did not intend to use, like the baseball tickets and the trip to Mexico. She sold the travel trailer and recently sold the popcorn machine. One piece of the exercise equipment is in her sunroom.

But the bedroom suite is still around to remind Jackson of the great time she and her family had on the show.

“If I had won a car, it would have been worn out by now,” Jackson said. “It was my 15 minutes of fame and the only time in my life I was speechless,” Jackson said.

While Jackson eventually was able to tape the show with her appearance, many of her friends in Muskogee never got to see it.

The day she was on, the show was pre-empted by Lech Walesa of Poland as he addressed Congress.



Other places didn’t draw her like Muskogee

Jean Jackson has never had trouble finding friendly people every place she’s been. However, she hasn’t always enjoyed the geography.

She and Jim had lived in Virginia while he was in the Navy, and when he was discharged, he took a job in Borger, Texas.

“I hated it from the time I moved there,” she said. “I was born and raised on the coast, where we had trees and water and the ocean.”

She found Borger hot and dry.

“The people were good, but the country was the ugliest place I’ve ever been to live,” she said.

After a while, the Jacksons returned to Virginia, where two of their children were born. He went back to the Navy and Jean stayed home with the children.

When he was discharged from the service again, they returned to Borger, where Jim worked for Phillips Petroleum.

He wasn’t a big fan of working at a union job and when the union went on strike, he took a job at Callery Chemical Co., which was just opening in Muskogee.

He went to work the day after Labor Day in 1958 and Jean and the children moved here three days before Christmas that year.

The Jacksons bought a home in Meadowbrook Addition, which was just being built.

“I have loved Muskogee from the first day I moved here,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t hard to get to know people.”

Her children made friends in the neighborhood and so did Jackson. One of those was Helen Hardin Weaver, who remains a friend, Jackson said.



How did you come to be an Okie from Muskogee?

“I married an Okie sailor.” Jean graduated from high school at age 16 and took an office job with the U.S. Navy. “I learned a lot and did a lot and spent a lot of time dancing at the USO. We weren’t supposed to leave with anybody that we met there, but those rules were meant to be broken.”



What do you do with your free time?

Work in the flower beds.



How do you make a living in Muskogee?

Retired.



What would make Muskogee a better place to live?

“I’ve always loved it the way it is. We’ve still got good and bad.”



Is there an Okie from Muskogee who you admire?

“Henry Sharp — I worked for him for 15 years — Rex Eskridge, Rodney and Roberta Brook.”



What’s the most memorable thing that has happened to you since you have lived in Muskogee?

“I really enjoyed my years of working for the city.”



How would you sum up Muskogee in 25 words or less?

“I can’t even say good morning in 25 words or less — the town’s only as good as the people who live there. I think Muskogee has been blessed with many, many good people. It’s a great place to raise children. We’ve been here 50 years, so we’re bound to love it here.”



Meet Jean Jackson

AGE: 82.

BORN: Elizabeth City, N.C.

CAREER: Retired as Muskogee police chief’s secretary.

EDUCATION: Graduated from high school at Methodist Orphanage, Raleigh, N.C., 1943.

FAMILY: Husband, Jim; son, David Jackson and his wife Debby, who live in Frisco, Texas, and have two sons and five grandchildren; daughter Jeanie Grubbs and her husband Dr. Terry Grubbs, who have one daughter and one grandchild, and a late son; son Allan Jackson and his wife Sharon of Colleyville, Texas, who have three children and two grandchildren.

CHURCH: First Baptist Church.

HOBBIES: Talking, eating, reading and writing letters.