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Jeff Jackson, 46, of Ooltewah, Tennessee, passed away November 3, 2021.
Jeff, the son of Cheryl & Don Johnson and Jon & Deb Jackson, was born in Marietta, OH, on March 24, 1975. He graduated from Northeast High School in Clarksville, TN, and attended Lee College in Cleveland, TN.
Guided by his Christian faith, which led him to Calvary Chapel Chattanooga, Jeff was purposefully driven to restore, create, and document life.
A nostalgic soul, Jeff's keen historic sense threaded through all his hobbies. He was adept at restoring antique technologies, giving new life to numerous decades-old cameras, computers and video game consoles. He sustained his Grandma June's legacy via batches of her family-famous Christmas cookies that had made and shared every year. Widely known as THE Miami Dolphins fan, his Tudor Electronic Football project and Tecmo Super Bowl seasons were centered around the Dungard face mask – wearing Bob Griese and the undefeated 1972 team.
Through his projects and games, Jeff created worlds that satisfied his own nostalgic sensibilities, but his acute historical awareness was manifested most importantly in the world he created for his family. From an early age, Jeff felt his destiny was to be a great father and his formula consisted of two main components – love and time. The Cleveland, TN, Bi-Lo served as the catalyst in fulfilling that destiny when he met Laura from the floral department. Jeff and Laura were married on January 11, 2003.
Together Jeff and Laura populated the Jackson family world with Will, Lorelai, January, and Ginny March. Jeff's daily purpose was to offer as much love and as much time as he could possibly give to each of them. While sharing many pieces of his own history and interests, he also offered a fear-free world of self-paced exploration and interaction, treating no thought or moment as insignificant. Cognizant that the next generation's history was in progress, the observer in Jeff tediously captured the most simple, genuine illustrations of the happiness that permeated their world.
Jeff published a yearly, hard-covered Jackson Family Album that highlighted life's vibrance – Will's smile, Lorelai's inquisitiveness, Janaury and Ginny's indelible bond. Often shot through the lens of his favorite Hasselblad, Jeff focused his remarkable photographic eye on and expended most of his creative energy into the documentation of his family as it happened.
Though he is gone from our mortal lives too soon, Jeff's dedication to his principles and active philosophical practice to "Write things down. Take more pictures. Something to remember us by," leaves us with the gift of his perspective as he gave all of his love and time.
Jeff's arrangements were handled by Companion Funeral & Cremation Service in Cleveland, TN, and the family is holding a private memorial.