Obituary of Bill Jackson

William Frederick Jackson, whom we all lovingly know as Bill, was born on November 8, 1948. Born to Elizabeth Senden and Fredrick Jackson in Prince Rupert, he was the oldest of all of his siblings. Gloria, Rod, Sharon, Rick, Diana, Barry, Darren, Christine, Fred, Isabel, Peter, Rhonda, and Duane all loved and looked up to their big brother. Although Bill was born in Prince Rupert he lived in Hazelton with his dad until the late 1950's when he and his sister, Gloria, were brought to live with their mom in Dawson Creek. Bill spent his younger years going to school, working on his art, helping out with his younger siblings, delivering newspapers, and pulling pranks on anyone and everyone. Bills childhood friend, Paul Ness, was his partner in crime throughout those early years and they remained friends for their entire lives. In 1967 Bill enlisted into the army, where he spent 4 years stationed overseas in Germany. Of all the things that he had been in life Bill always claimed that being a soldier was the one thing that he succeeded in. In 1971 Bill received an honourable discharge from the army and returned home to Dawson Creek, where he met Wendy Pierson. Bill and Wendy began dating and on May 29, 1973 they were married. They lived in Dawson Creek until their first baby was conceived. And in 1974 they relocated to Clive AB. William Troy' Jackson was born on April 3, 1975 in Lacombe AB. Closely followed by his baby sister, Tara Carmen, in March 21, 1977. They lived in Red Deer until 1980 when Bill and Wendy separated. After the separation Bill moved back to Dawson Creek and started focusing more of his time on his passion, artwork. In 1994 he began circulating prints of his Native Artwork which then lead to cedar carving, glass etching, flute making, pencil sketchings, and his most recent love, building guitars. Bill was able to live comfortably on the money he made from his Native Artwork for quite a few years. Bill had a gypsy soul, when he wasn't working on his artwork he was travelling in between British Columbia and Alberta, while travelling he stayed in his van, until Tara found out. In 2010 he came back to Dawson Creek from his travels to visit Tara, Josh, and their girls and, well, he ended up visiting until 2013. Throughout the 3 years that Bill lived with Josh and Tara he developed a relationship with his grandchildren that will never be forgotten. If Bill wasn't loving on Woogie (Matteah's orange cat), creating new artwork, or working at Walmart you could find him teaching his granddaughters about his artwork, riding bicycles with Charisa, or helping Austyn with his music. All of his grandchildren had 3 wonderful years full of loving memories with him, time that will be forever cherished. In 2013 Bill decided to move to Edmonton to be closer to his sisters, Gloria and Sharon. Bill never changed, while he was living with his sisters you could always find him teasing them, just as he did when he was young. Gloria shares a funny story in which we believe is payback for some of the pranks he used to pull on her. One Christmas morning, while visiting with Gloria and Chuck in Barrhead, Bill came out of the bedroom in a panic! He had the look of O.M.G. I have lost something very important on his face. Gloria asked him repeadedly what he was looking for; his answer, his teeth. He was frantically looking everywhere for his precious pearly whites; under the mattress, under the pillow, in the dresser drawers, he was insistent that they hid them on him while he was sleeping. As he travelled between the living room and the bedroom he turned to walk away from Gloria when she started howling with laughter. "Bill, she says, I know where your teeth are".where, he asked"stuck to the back of your shirt chattering away". Needless to say, after a great big laugh and some assistance from his sister in retrieving from his shirt, his teeth were returned to where they belonged. Bill loved many things in life, he loved many things including music (especially bluegrass, country and he sure appreciated a good ole string picking) animals, passing down traditions through art and story, and fishing. Although Bill spent most of his life away from Hazelton the mountains and the rivers always called out to him. Tara remembers many times when he would speak of going home, home to the mountains and home to the water. He requested that he be cremated and his ashes be scattered into the water where the Bulkley and the Skeena Rivers meet, for then he will remain forever home. Bill passed away on October 22, 2018 at the age of 69. A memorial service was held on Saturday, October 27, 2018 at 2:00pm at the Dawson Creek Alliance Church. Expressions of sympathy may be made by donation to the SPCA, South Peace Branch, 637 - 114 Avenue, Dawson Creek, British Columbia V1G 3A1. Service 2:00 pm Saturday, October 27, 2018 Dawson Creek Alliance Church 9009 - 10th street DAWSON CREEK, British Columbia, Canada V1G 4T2