Patricia Jackson, with her sense of fashion and flowers, may not have seemed like the type who regularly climbed up on the roof of her garage.
But she did – to take care of her garden, where she grew eggplant, corn and tomatoes. And zinnias for color.
Jackson, who died July 14 at age 81, marched through life pulling a lot of surprises.
She was an avid supporter of school integration and enlisted her children to go door-to-door campaigning for pro-integration school board candidates.
After being yelled at and having doors slammed in his face, Patricia Jackson’s son, Matthew Jackson, complained to his mom, “How much longer before the election is over?”
Patricia Jackson, a Democrat, worked on two political campaigns – one for her husband, a Republican, and two for Barbara Holme, a Democrat.
Bill Jackson was elected to the state House of Representatives and Holme was elected to the Colorado Senate.
“We had some differences, and politics was one of them,” said Bill Jackson.
Patricia Jackson was an early opponent of the Vietnam War, after studying the issue thoroughly, and volunteered to work on several environmental issues before it was common to do so.
She herself wasn’t an outdoors enthusiast, though she loved the family’s second home in Breckenridge.
“But I was the one on the roof removing the snow,” said her husband, who had a career in investments and mutual funds.
She also was a big volunteer for one of the first support groups for people with epilepsy. Her son, Tom, had epilepsy but has been free of the illness since a tumor was removed from his brain.
“She was a fierce defender of the family,” said son Matthew of Decorah, Iowa, “and she had a real sense of fairness and was always well-informed” on issues.
She instilled her love of gardens in her son William S. “Willy” Jackson III of Denver, who along with brother Stephen Jackson of Missoula, Mont., built the 8-by-10-foot garden box on top of the garage.
Patricia Jackson helped establish one of the city’s first community gardens, a common sight nowadays.
Patricia McLaughlin was born May 15, 1924, in Chicago and grew up in Lake Forest, Ill.
She attended private schools in the East and graduated from the Ethel Walker School in Connecticut. During World War II she did assembly-line work for a national defense agency and later worked for a women’s clothing store in Lake Forest.
She married William Jackson in December 1946.
In addition to her husband and sons, she is survived by six grandchildren.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
