TILMON JACKSON

A walk-thru viewing on Thursday, Feb. 18th at Anderson-Ragsdale Mortuary from 5pm-7pm. A service in the Mortuary courtyard on Friday, Feb. 19th at 11am with entombment to follow at Cypressview Mausoleum. 

TILMON JACKSON was born on Tuesday, January 25, 1921 in the small rural city of Marquez, Texas (Leon County) to sharecroppers, Van Jackson and Equilla Anderson Jackson. He was the third of seven children; 4 boys and 3 girls. The Jacksons were a loving, close-knit family who picked cotton from sun-up to sundown. They lived on a farm located between Dallas and Houston in the mid-twenties and mid-thirties. One day, as teenagers, he and his brother Selma decided they’d had enough of picking cotton every day. They thought, “There, just had to be more to life waiting for them than sore, blistered finger pricks at the end of the day with little to show for the hard labor in Marquez.” These two brothers quit school, left the farm, and fled to the big city of Houston on a freight train and never again picked cotton for a living. While making deliveries on his new job in Houston, Tilmon met the love of his life and soon married Helen Terrell. They relocated to San Diego, California to start a new life with their first-born son, Marcellus Tilmon Jackson. Tilmon joined Laborers International Union 89 in 1959 and worked for DPR Construction to support his family. He retired in 1983. 

Helen cared for their home and new son. Four years later, a second son, Merlin Terrell Jackson (best known as Mert), was welcomed into the family. The Jackson family soon became busy with school and community activities. A few years later, the third and final son, Todd Avery Jackson, was born into the family fold. Now that truly was the “original” California Jackson 5. They united with the Mt. Erie Baptist Church and became very involved with church activities including the Progressive Baptist District Association for over 55 years. Pastor Walter G. Wells occasionally shared the heartwarming and life-changing Mt. Erie rooftop repair story when he had an up close and personal encounter with Tilmon Jackson. Their conversation convinced him to unite with Mt. Erie Church soon thereafter. From that encounter until his passing, Bro. Jackson faithfully and actively served as an Usher, Deacon, a key contact for Mt. Erie funerals, participant in Sunday School, and was honored with an award, along with others in 2019, attended BTU and any other servant role needing to be fulfilled. He was known to quietly fold his hands in front of himself and stand up if you took longer than the allowed time to speak so the program could move along. 

Raising three sons was often a busy and challenging time through the years. Tilmon ran his household with loving, but steady reigns in his hands likened to the livestock he carefully steered back in Marquez, Texas. He maintained strong Jackson family values and practiced the faith God planted deep inside of him. What he didn’t know was how many of his son’s friends, his nieces and nephews (there were many) that would become like children of his own through the decades. You could often hear loud voices for hours coming from 1031 Beverly Street during boxing matches and football and basketball games on television. He assigned them all chores, had an open-door policy on feeding anyone that was hungry (especially his chicken, ribs and fish), and for years, would load up friends, family, Helen, and the “fellas” into the motor home for camping trips to the beach, mountain picnics, church conferences, graduations and road trips to Texas. Tilmon deeply loved his wife, Helen, (married over 65 years) was a devoted family provider and a dedicated servant of God. He would do just about anything for anybody at any time. It is now his time to receive his crown and live eternally with his Savior and King, Jesus the Christ.

Tilmon was preceded in death by his three sons, parents, and siblings; three brothers: Wilbert Jackson, Selma Jackson, and Van Jackson, Jr; (three sisters; a 2nd-born infant, Lula Mae Griffin and Louiza Hayward. He leaves to cherish and celebrate his memory, his wife, Helen Jackson of San Diego, CA; grand-daughter, Taj Jackson of Mansfield, TX; god-daughter, Charlene Lemon of San Diego, CA; grand god-son; Dante Lemon of Austin, TX; god-daughter, Gracie Vaden of San Diego, CA; god-son, Marlon Scott of San Diego, CA; many nephews, nieces and a host of family and beloved friends.

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