TULSA - Richard Harold "Dick" Jackson, 90, died Monday, August 15, at St. Francis Hospital, after a short illness.
After a successful career as an aerospace company manager, he spent many years in retirement helping others, including founding a program to help many low income people in Tulsa. He was a positive, encouraging presence in everyone's life and everyone knew him as a loving family member and friend.
He was born August 8, 1932, in Buffalo, New York, the son of Harold Ernest Jackson and Emily (Sugden) Jackson, and grew up in Alhambra, a suburb of Los Angeles, graduating from Alhambra High School in 1949.
He volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1953 and was sent to Germany in early 1954. He was the best man for an American soldier marrying a German and met the bride's maid of honor, Ruth Theilmann. He married Ruth July 23, 1955, in Heidelberg, West Germany and returned to the Los Angeles area later that year. He and Ruth had four children, two sons and two daughters.
He began his aerospace career as a draftsman for Douglas Aviation in Santa Monica, California. He graduated in 1956 from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in anthropology, and got a job at North American Aviation Rocketdyne, later Rockwell International. In 1965, he transferred to the company's Tulsa plant to help the buildup of the company's space division. The Tulsa plant did work for the Apollo space program. He retired in 1988. He then worked for three years as a self-employed contractor for Nordam plants in Tulsa and Arkansas before retiring for good in 1991.
He spent many years volunteering for the Community Action Project of Tulsa County, where he founded and ran a free tax preparation program to help low income people obtain their Earned Income Tax Credits. The Tulsa program served as a model for similar programs around the country.
CAP Tulsa also pioneered in setting up an individual development account (IDA) savings program to help low income people build assets, and he helped set up the program. He also ran CAP Tulsa's investment portfolio, helping the agency obtain good returns on its investments. He served as president of the Tulsa Children's Coalition, which developed and built preschools across the Tulsa community. In recognition of his service to CAP Tulsa, he was named Oklahoma Community Action Volunteer of the Year in 1999.
And he served Hope Unitarian Church, helping the church win a certification for saving energy. He was the church treasurer at the time of his death.
He had many interests, including attending classical music concerts, watching OU football, fitness and investing in the stock market. His strategy for options trading was profiled in a 2010 article in the Wall Street Journal. More recently, he wrote and self-published an investment book, "Eggs in Your Nest," under the pen name Owen Little, to share a simple investment strategy for ordinary people.
Survivors include his wife, Ruth, of the home; a son, Tom (Ann) Jackson, Berea, Ohio; Susi Kildow, Tulsa, Kathy (Kevin) Kerns, Kent, Ohio; a brother, Robert (Karen) Jackson, Mounds, Oklahoma, and five grandsons: Richard Jackson, Missouri; Andy Kildow, Grapevine, Texas; Danny Kildow, Tulsa; USMC 1st. Lt. Noah Kerns, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Alan (Ally) Kerns, Columbus, Ohio. He was preceded in death by his son Steve.
According to his wishes, Mr. Jackson was cremated. A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sept. 2 at Hope Unitarian Church.
Anyone who cannot attend the memorial service may watch via Zoom at 1 p.m. Central time Sept. 2, at < https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83401996695 >.