Annabelle Jackson

Annabelle Jackson, lovingly known as "GranAnn" by friends and family passed away at 6:51 a.m. Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at Milner Community Health Care in Rossville, Indiana where she had been a patient for six weeks.
She was born on Nov. 5, 1919 in a farmhouse near a little town called Aix, near Rensselaer. Her parents were Ed and Flora (Bundy) Spurgeon. She grew up in Barkley Township.
Helping in the kitchen was just not her style, but she loved milking the cows and helping with the farm work while always remaining petite and beautiful. She was a member of the Rensselaer graduating class of 1938 and she married Keith Jackson on July 10, 1938.
For several years in the 1940's Annabelle and her husband operated a small airport in Hanging Grove Township which is near Rensselaer. During that time Annabelle learned to fly single engine aircraft. A few years later the husband and wife team started building small farm implement trailers and Annabelle learned to weld. When in 1952 they moved the business to Monon, and began manufacturing semi-trailers, she taught many men to weld. The company, Monon Trailer, provided jobs for many men and women in the area. Yet today, 59 years later there is still a trailer manufacturer in the same Monon location and a Lafayette-based trailer manufacturer, Wabash National, is a spin-off of the Monon business.
Annabelle was an accomplished pianist who could not only read music but was adept at playing by ear. She began playing piano for church services when she was 14 and continued providing piano and organ music for those services for over 69 years. A devout Christian, she was a member of the Monon Baptist Church and also an Eastern Star member for over 60 years.
Her husband passed in 1992 and Annabelle moved to Lafayette in 2004.
She is survived by two daughters, Kristel Kaye (husband: Jim Berry) of Lafayette and Anne Ward (husband: Dale) of Francesville. Also surviving are sisters, Elsie Cadwalader of Carmel, Indiana; Eileen Spurgeon of West Lafayette, and Alta Hall (husband: Cliff) of Lafayette. She is survived by nine grandchildren: Lorie Amick (husband: Doug) and Lisa Smith (husband: Garry) of West Lafayette; Craig Ehrlich (wife: Jill) of Lafayette; Elaine McCann (husband: Dave) of Goshen, Indiana; Brian Ward (wife: Dana) of Henderson, Kentucky; Angela Mainstone (husband: Larry) of Pinehurst, North Carolina; Kerri Westerhouse (husband: Rodney) of Valparaiso, Indiana; Brad Ward (wife: Anna) of Carmel, Indiana and Nikki Wireman (husband: Sam) of Wheatfield, Indiana. She is also survived by twenty-seven great-grandchildren and two great-great grandsons.
Visitation will be from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday, May 19, with Eastern Star services at 7:30 p.m. at Clapper Family Funeral Home in Monon. Funeral service 11 a.m. Friday, May 20 at the First Baptist Church in Monon. Interment to follow in Memory Gardens of Rensselaer.
In lieu of flowers memorial may be made to the American Cancer Society or the Monon Volunteer Fire Department.
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www.clapperfuneralservices.com.
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