1920-2024
Josephine Stringer Jackson, (Jo) age 104 of Fordyce, Arkansas died peacefully on July 31, 2024, in Little Rock, AR. She was born in Fordyce, AR. on March 8th, 1920, to James Freeman Stringer and Katie Lou Cunningham Stringer of Fordyce, AR.
She graduated from Fordyce High School in 1938. In May of 1940 she married Col. J Garrett Jackson (Jack) at Fort Davis in the Panama Canal Zone. During the time from Panama to when Jack’s 405th fighter group swept across Europe with General Patton’s Third Army, then he returned home as CO of Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix AZ. Jack and Jo lived there until Jack became ill. He passed away at the age of 30 in 1946. After the passing of her husband in 1946 Jo returned to Fordyce, AR. and worked for the Fordyce Bank and Trust for many years. She was an active and dedicated member of the First Presbyterian Church in Fordyce. Jo stayed with her parents who helped her take care of her two young boys. She was active in her community with friends and neighbors, played golf and bridge regularly and frequently visited her two sons and their children in Little Rock and elsewhere. When her younger son Jim and his wife told their three sons they were going to visit Fordyce, the youngest then 5-year-old Edward said we are going to Fordyce to eat. Jo would tell you her mother, Katie Lou, was the great cook, but so was Jo. Anyone who knew Jo said she never said an unkind word about anyone. All her family remembers her as a caring mother and grandmother who encouraged them to pursue their goals.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Col. J Garrett Jackson of Altus, OK., her sister Corrine Stringer, of Fordyce, AR., her son J Garrett Jackson, Jr. of Bryson City, NC., her granddaughter, Jennifer Jackson Eads of Vancouver, WA. (Rex), and granddaughter-in-law, Brandie Jo Jackson (Tyndall).
Jo is survived by her son, James Edward Jackson (and wife Sue) of Little Rock, AR. and her grandsons James Tyndall Jackson, of North Little Rock, AR., Lee Butler Jackson (and wife Pamela), Edward Stringer Jackson (and wife Hillary), and C. Blake Jackson of Little Rock, AR., J. Garrett Jackson III and Jay Bradley Jackson of Woodruff, SC., grandson-in-law, Rex Eads of Vancouver, WA. and step-granddaughter, Tasha Alexander of Destin, FL.; great-grandchildren James Tyndall Jackson II of North Little Rock, AR., Ranger B. Robinson of Damascus, AR., and Tyler and Hunter Jackson of Myrtle Beach, SC.
Special thanks go to Presbyterian Village for the care staff and friends Jo made over the estimated 17 years she lived there. Thank you to Arkansas Hospice that provided special care and assisted in Jo’s 104th year.
A Celebration of Jo’s Life will be August 8th, 2024, at 10:00 am at the Presbyterian Village Chapel in Little Rock, AR. with Stacey Hammons, Presbyterian Village Chaplain officiating. Following this service a family graveside service will be held at the Oakland Cemetery, in Fordyce, AR. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made in Jo’s memory to a charity of your choice.
