Barton Lee Jackson

Barton Lee Jackson 1941-2011 Barton Lee Jackson, 69, of Eagle, passed away Saturday, March 19, 2011. A memorial service will be held Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at the Eagle United Methodist Church. Arrangements are under the direction of Summers Funeral Homes, Ustick Chapel. Barton Lee Jackson was born July 24, 1941, to Lee Ford Jackson and Helen Evelyn Jackson at Newport, Rhode Island. Bart was the only surviving child of Lee and Helen, and by all accounts, should not have survived his birth. He was strong-willed, passionate in his beliefs, a genius in his own right, an enthralling storyteller, a man with a deep and abiding faith in God who was fiercely protective of his family and was a patriot to the very core of his being. Bart strove to be someone his neighbors could count on for aid. It was rare for him to say "no." As the son of a Navy bandmaster, he relocated several times with his mother, Helen, during World War II and then again when his father served in the Korean conflict. However, his anchor was always his grandparents, Amos and Orcelia Barton, then of Odessa, Florida. They nurtured him in his faith walk, instilled in him a love of country and family as well as moral uprightness. Bart, as he grew older, always used his grandparents as the yardstick by which to measure his actions. Bart graduated from Chamberlain High School in 1959. While growing up, he was an active member of Citrus Park Baptist Church, Citrus Park, Florida, and at one time considered becoming a pastor. He joined the Air Force right out of high school to the chagrin of his very Navy family - he had a full-ride scholarship to the Naval Academy. It did not take long for the Air Force to figure out that Bart was a born leader and incredibly talented, intellectually. He went through intelligence training and was then stationed at Andover Air Force Base in Massachusetts doing photo reconnaissance work. He had wanted to become a spotter pilot during a second tour but was talked out of it and left military service after four years- it was the beginning of the Vietnam Conflict. After the Air Force, he returned home and eventually found himself in data processing. This career took Bart from Tampa to Miami to Atlanta to San Francisco, and then Eagle, Idaho. The most fun he had was when he worked for The Good Guys, during the 1980s in San Francisco. He had assembled a crack team of programmers and operations personnel who could make his vision a reality. Bart was a problem solver; the bigger the problem, the happier he was. Eventually Bart came to realize that the pursuit of triple-digit salaries and professional challenges paled in comparison to the time spent with his family. In 1989, he purchased land in Eagle, Idaho, and moved his wife and young sons there so that they could experience the same quality of life he had had in rural Odessa, Florida. Retirement was not yet in the cards for him, and he spent much of the next ten years away from home working. Finally in 2001, he retired from the corporate world and became "Mr. Mom" while his wife, Carrie, pursued a teaching career. His sons, Barton Lee and Allen Ford, had always been the center of his world but now he could make up for lost time and focus on supporting them in their endeavors as they moved from adolescence to adulthood. Bart had raised two daughters, Doria and Jennifer, from his previous marriage, but two sons opened up a whole new realm of parenthood. He was a Den leader and Scout leader in Troop 77 for his sons, and insured that they both achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Bart, always an American football enthusiast, was introduced to Soccer when Carrie volunteered him as a coach for Barton Lee's CYSA U-6/7 team in 1990. He was hooked. Bart became a volunteer referee the next year in addition to coaching duties. His older son, Barton Lee, suspects this was Bart's strategy to validate yelling at other credentialed referees. He would often comment with embarrassment that he was the John Madden of youth soccer. In 1996, he became involved with the Meridian Police Activities League Soccer program. He coached his sons until they went to high school. He became a certified USSF referee and was a permanent figure on the PAL fields each Saturday. He served on the PAL Soccer board off and on for years after his sons had left the program; he retired from the presidency and as Director of Referees during the Fall 2010 season. He loved the sport, watching players develop over the years as well as mentoring his youth referees. Bart never forgot that the PAL program was about teaching life skills and Christian values to children through sport - if it wasn't good for the children, the program should not pursue it. Bart died doing one of the things he loved. Bart was a member of the Eagle United Methodist Church since 1989. There was still much about Bart that was Southern Baptist, but he adopted the Methodist faith for Carrie. He had fallen away from the Church for several decades of his life but still had a faith that was easily reignited. Bart most recently served on the Chair for Missions but over the years, stepped in and did whatever service was asked of him. He was a member of the Idaho Walk to Emmaus. Recently, he took up the bass guitar and was playing in the church's Eagle Blue Grass Band as well as adding his smooth baritone voice. Bart's church family was near and dear to him. When his son, Allen, was cured of cancer in 2008, it was not only as a result of the doctors, but more so a result of the prayers that flowed to him. Each year Bart thanks his church family for the gift of that miracle. As a result of his work on the Missions Committee, Bart became involved with the Eagle Food Bank. He spent many hours delivering food donations from church membership and organizing food drives. He always felt that the needy in his community must be served first and by doing so, Christian charity would flow outward. Hopefully Bart's example will live on in the lives of those whom he has touched over the years and they will "pay it forward." Bart is survived by his wife Carrie, sons Barton Lee and Allen Ford, his daughters Doria Lynne Jackson and Jennifer Lynne Teufel, son-in-law Chris Teufel and grandchildren Lauren Pasqual, Evan Fenison, Christopher Barton Teufel and Ryker Stanley Teufel. We will miss our beloved "PopPop" but we will all "cowboy up." Memorial donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Eagle United Methodist Church Memorial Fund or the American Heart Association are preferred.