LITTLE ROCK — Nonnie Jackson had such a zest for life that living to 100 was only the beginning.
“She was the first one [of her six siblings] to make it to 100,” said her son, Dorsey Jackson. “She said she couldn’t wait to be 101.”
Narcissa Phillips Wilmans Jackson died from a stroke Friday at her Newport home, her son, Dr. Jabez Jackson Jr., said. She was 103.
Born in Diaz in 1909, Narcissa Jackson, called “Nonnie,” was the middle child of seven children.
“She told us about riding in a buggy from Diaz” to school in Newport, said her daughter, Mary Elrod. “Her brother would drive the buggy.”
After graduating from high school in the late 1920s, she attended college for a semester in Missouri before working a few years in Washington, D.C., and in Chicago at the 1933-34 World’s Fair.
“She had a great time, it was fun,” Elrod said. “Totally different from growing up on a farm in Newport, Arkansas.”
In 1940, she married Dr.Jabez Jackson Sr., and the couple had three children. After traveling with her husband, who served in the U.S. Army, the couple returned to settle in Newport, where he was a general practitioner.
“She spent most of the time making sure when he got off work everything was OK in the house, because he worked all the time,” Dorsey Jackson said. His father died in 1989, he said.
Besides being a devoted wife, Nonnie Jackson enjoyed entertaining guests and spending time with her children.
“Every Friday, she would take a whole group of us and our friends to the [White] River, and she would drive the boat,” her daughter said. “We’d stay all day.”
A favorite part of entertaining for Jackson was cooking, which she did from scratch.
“Here are some of the things she made daily - whole-wheat bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, corn cakes,” her daughter said. “She could cook anything.”
She was active in the community, including serving a few years as board president of the Walnut Grove Cemetery and helping financially support Newport’s annual Portfest celebration.
“She was a very modest person. She didn’t brag about the things she did, she just did them,” Elrod said.
If the doors were open at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, “she was there,” Dorsey Jackson said.
“She was an angel among angels,” Jabez Jackson said. “She was true. She was faithful. She was a good, caring mother. She loved her children, she loved her family, she loved her town.”
Even in her 90s, she enjoyed playing bridge and traveling, usually with her sister, Lucy Freeman, who is 99 years old, Dorsey Jackson said.
“She was always looking for an excuse to go someplace,” Dorsey Jackson said. “She was still driving when she was 95. I can’t remember when I took her keys away from her.”
For her 80th birthday, she went on a week-long Caribbean cruise with her children and grandchildren.
“There were activities morning, noon and night. There were 15 of us, and we won every event we participated in,” Elrod said with a laugh. “She just loved people. Wherever we went, she made friends instantly.”
A giving woman with a quick wit, she made sure to pass on important wisdom to her children and all who knew her.
“Two things she said: ‘Nothing is yours until you’ve shared it’ and ‘if you can’t say anything nice about somebody, don’t say anything,’” Jabez Jackson said. “That is what she believed.”
Arkansas, Pages 18 on 12/30/2012