My family

I grew up with 4 brothers. I learned later in life that my Mother had miscarried with a girl also. It would have been great to have a sister to protect from other guys like me!

Mom and Dad were married in December of 1940. Mom's maiden name was Lake and most of her family lived in the Cooks Falls and Roscoe area. She had 11 brothers and sisters, not uncommon in those days. My Grandma Lake owned the Kozy Korner restaurant in Roscoe. I remember going over there, usually on Sundays and having great meals. She had a pinball machine in the restaurant which she allowed us kids to play. Grandma Lake was adopted by a Delaware Indian named Jimmy Brown. She looked every bit like an Indian, the high cheek bones, ruddy complexion. I'm not sure if she was biologically an indian but that would help explain a lot of our unruly behavior! Grandpa Lake was a stocky, strong man. He died when I was only three but I slightly remember him. My mom had a brother, Howard, who was a lumberjack. He worked the woods on our farm in Beerston for a few years and I remember him as the strongest, most solidly built man that I had ever seen. Mom's sister, Aggie helped grandma run the restaurant and later on had her own diner in Parksville on Route 17 toward the city. A lot of the Breakstone's truck drivers from Walton stopped in for her food.

My Dad, Simon Graham Jackson, came from Scottish heritage on his Dad's side and Jewish heritage on Grandma Jackson's side. Her family name was Jacobson and most of her brothers and sisters lived well into their 90's, and her sister Mabel, I believe lived to 102. Hope I got some of those genes! Back to Dad: Dad was as good a farmer as there was around. He knew animals, would have been a great veterinarian, and knew crops and machinery. He was the complete package as a farmer! He didn't have much use for anything or anyone who took him or us boys away from our job of running the farm. He never showed up to any of my track meets or basketball games, but I understood, I really did. He said that the two biggest problems with summer was "flies and baseball." Dad went Cornell for two years and got a Degree in Dairy Husbandry. He was proud of his schooling and pushed us to get an education. He did not particularly want us to be "just farmers." He would have been a hard act to follow in farming. Dad was sick the last few years of his life and I got real close with him during that time. He was so proud of me for quitting drinking in 1994 and I promised him that my sobriety would last- and it has! Dad died in 1995 and even though he had been real sick, it was hard for me to accept. In fact, in 1995 I lost Dad, Carol's Dad, my good friend Tom Robinson and my sports hero Mickey Mantle. He left Mom well off financially at his death but she was too generous to some of her family. It makes me sad that people would take advantage of her kindness, but things like that happen.

My oldest brother, William Thomas (Tom) Jackson was named after our Grandfather Jackson. He was born in February, 1942. Tom and I were not real close as kids, although we never fought as I recall. Later on in life we have become about as close as two brothers can be, even though we disagree on politics and the Yankees. Tom was always a Brooklyn Dodger fan. I don't recall his reaction when the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the 1955 World Series, but I don't think he rubbed it in too badly. Tom was a good student and a model citizen. He was a hard act to follow in school! He played center on the Walton football team at about 130 lbs! I remember they got beaten by Windsor 83-0 and he broke his nose. As I remember, he was right out there the next week ready to play. He was tough and I admired him for that. I never did play football but became a pretty good runner and even played varsity basketball. That's a subject for another blog, though. Tom was a great help to Grandma Jackson after Grandpa Jackson passed away in 1951. He helped her milk cows and do all of the other farm chores. All of us boys liked staying overnight at Grandma's. She always had lots of sweets to eat, and we played games like dominos, parcheesi and chinese checkers. As I recall, she did not have a TV set, or if she did we never watched it. She also had an old RCA wind up, crank victrola. We would sit for hours at a time listening to old Scottish records. "I'm forever blowing bubbles" was our favorite. Back to Tom: After he graduated from High School in 1960 he went Cornell University for two years and received a degree in Dairy Husbandry. He then bought a farm from Aunt Ida, married Sandra Tommel in 1964, raised four kids: Will, Jennifer, Sam and Jacqueline. He sold his herd in1987 and went to work for New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG). He had some serious health problems in 2000, so he retired. Tom and Sandy have since moved to Oneonta, NY and have a nice house right off the the first green at Oneonta Country Club. Tom does not play golf and is constantly harassed about it by many of his so- called friends! In 2007 Tom had another major health scare: breast cancer! Yes it's true, about 1500 men per year in The US are diagnosed with it. Tom went through the requisite chemo and radiation, and thanks to his positive outlook, supportive family and fantastic Doctors, he is cancer free! He was found to have the Brac 2 gene which predisposed him to the cancer. Thankfully I do not carry that mutation. It comes from our Grandma Jackson's side of the family apparently. We get to visit Tom and Sandy every summer and they have been down to see us twice since we have been in Texas. As we get older, it seems to be more important that we see each other as much as possible.

(Added June 7th) And then there's my brother Sim: Simon James Jackson, born Feb. 26, 1947. Sim is very complex individual. He has all of the musical talent in the world, and for that I hate him (jk!). He was a terrific athlete in High School, and as an adult ran the Marine Corps Marathon several times. He joined the Marines and served a tour in Vietnam. As a matter of fact, he and I were in Country at the same time, but we never got a chance to get together over there. Sim had a music scholarship to Muskingum University in Ohio. His first order of business was to form a band to play at local bars in Zanesville, Ohio. School was, well, it was not at the top of his priority list! Sim has worked some interesting jobs during his life. He was the Frito- Lay man (feel free to insert your own joke here!), he worked for the New York State Conservation Department, and he was a VA Counselor for New York State for over 20 years. He was the best as a counselor. Many vets have come to me or other members of my family praising Sim for getting things done for them. One example is my brother in law, Ronnie Lewis. The VA was taking money back from Ronnie for years before Sim got on their case, got Ronnie a great settlement, and complete disability status. Talk about changing people's lives...

Sim always had a band to play in. Many of you probably remember the "Pulsations" with lee Grotevant, Doug Thomson, Frank Sabbia and Steve Rutherford. They were good, too. In fact they played at Cayuga Lodge, Cornell University for a party while I was attending Cornell. All of the lodge brothers were impressed! In the 70's he would play at Sutt's, the Bear Spring Inn, regularly. He always drew a great crowd. Hey, what happens on break stays on break! He played lots of weddings , class reunions and maybe a funeral wake or two!

Sim has had two wives. The first was Vickie (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) North from Walton. I remember, somewhat, some of the awesome parties that they would throw at their house. I remember visiting them in Groton, NY, in the late 70's. He was still working for Frito- Lay. We went to a local bar and met John Boecke and maybe Pricey, too. His second wife, Beth lives on Fox Farm road on the way to Sidney Center. She runs a Joshua House operation and is as skilled as she is devoted to her clients.

Next is my brother John. John Arthur Jackson was born Feb.2, 1956, Groundhog's day. He was nicknamed Johnny Chuck at an early age. His middle name, Arthur was after Arthur Radecker, some kind of relation to my dad's family. Uncle Arthur, as we called him is buried in the Downsville cemetery close to the Jackson plot. He was a WW I veteran. John was born at a time just right to be picked on unmercifully by us older boys. In fact our mother blames us for some of his problems later in life, and I think she was serious! I remember Tom's friend, Harry France, used to join us in the "teasetivities" also! John worked on the farm and dad sold it to him in about 1984. John then sold the herd in 1986 and leased the farm to Don Dunbar. Don is still on the farm to this day. I was personally disappointed that John didn't make a better effort to keep the farm going, but again, I wasn't there. John and Karen had three boys; Todd, Jimmie and Reggie. Todd was an excellent baseball player. In 1988, Todd, Jimmy Jacob and Craig Murphy stayed with us in Florida for about a week. They were attending the Doyle baseball camp in Winter Haven. We took them to see "Bull Durham" while they were there. In retrospect, we probably should have pre-screened the movie! Todd also sliced off the very tip of his finger using the handy- dandy V- slicer, one of those seen on TV gadgets! Todd went to the University of Tampa for a year. They had an awesome baseball program back then, including a first baseman named Tino Martinez, who later became a Yankee semi- legend! Unfortunately, John has decided to not communicate with the family or attend family functions for the past decade or so; very sad!

The last Jackson boy was Jim: James Jardine Jackson. Jardine was a family name. We always used to tease Jim that mom and dad wanted a girl, hence the name Jardine! Jim was born on November 18. 1960. I remember the day very well, because on Nov 16th I had broken a metatarsal bone in my foot during basketball practice. I finished practice but the next morning my mom had to take me to Doc Schackten for a cast. The next day she cleaned the bulk milk tank before going to the hospital to give birth. Tough, tough lady... I was able to shoot a deer out in the pasture, yes it was in season for a change, and with the help of our hired man, Clayton Gilbert, get it back to the house, clean it and hang it. Back to Jim; Jim was a real cute kid and had a way with the ladies. He was also a great cook from an early age, learning the tricks of the trade from Mom, who as many of you know, was as good a cook as there was in Walton! Jim was a good wrestler in High School and I remember watching him and brother John go at it full bore at home. Jim was married to Judy Budine and they have a son, Chad. Chad was an excellent football and basketball palyer, and a pretty good golfer too. I remember playing golf with Jim, John and Sim. Four lefties playing together, quite a rarity! I'm sure that many of you know that Jim is back working for the Rainbow. He is as good a restaurant cook as there is, in my never to be humble opinion. Jim and I had a falling out for a few years but we are good again; that's the way family should be.