David Anthony Jackson

DAVID JACKSON WAS BORN  APRIL 2ND, 1952  IN PHILADELPHIA PA.  TO PARENTS WILLIARD DAVID JACKSON AND RUTH  VIRGINIA JACKSON.  THREE OTHER SIBLINGS WERE BORN OUT OF THIS UNION,  ADRIAN PENNY JACKSON, GLORIA JACKSON, AND THE LATE MARK JACKSON. THE COUPLE HAD TWO OTHER CHILDREN FROM A PREVIOUS MARRIAGE, ANNETE JACKSON, AND MARY JACKSON-HUNTER.

DAVID ATTENDED PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND GRADUATED FROM SIMON GRATZ HIGH SCHOOL IN 1970.

SHORTLY THEREAFTER DAVID ENLISTED AND BECAME ONE OF “THE FEW AND THE PROUD” IN THE UNITED STATES MARINES CORP WHERE HE SERVED HIS COUNTRY WELL.

DAVID WORKED FOR THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA FOR 25 YEARS.  HE WAS WELL KNOWN, AND ADMIRED BY HIS FELLOW CO-WORKERS THERE, AS WELL AS HIS EMPLOYERS. HE RECENTLY RETIRED FROM THE STREETS DEPARTMENT BEFORE HIS PASSING.

DAVID HAD A GREAT MIND AND WAS A LIFELONG LEARNER. HE WAS AN AVID READER, WATCHER, AND LISTENER OF EVENTS PAST AND PRESENT.                     HE WOUD START OFF A CONVERSATION WITH….“HEY DID YOU KNOW….?”        HE LOVED TO TALK AND PHILOSOPHIZE ABOUT EVERYTHING.  HE WOULD HOLD COURT WHILE SPEAKING FOR HOURS, ABOUT ALL, THINGS GREAT AND SMALL.  HE HAD A PECULIAR MANNERISM OR TIC WHERE HE WOULD SAY “HUH” AFTER MAKING A POINT.      AND JUST AS UNEXPECTEDLY AS HE ARRIVEDAT YOUR DOOR, POOF HE WOULD BE GONE, NOT TO BE SEEN AGAIN FOR MONTHS, MAYBE A YEAR, SOMETIMES LONGER.  HE WAS COMPLEX. 

DAVID HAD A GREAT SMILE AND TOOK GREAT PRIDE IN KEEPING HIS PEARLY WHITES - PEARLY WHITE.  AND YOU JUST FELT GOOD WHEN DAVID GAVE YOU THAT SMILE.  IT WAS LIKE THAT.  DAVID’S LOVE OF FOOD WAS LEGIONDARY.  HE LOVED TO PREPARE IT. 

COMING FROM A LONG LINE OF COOKING PEOPLE, FOOD WAS  A SERIOUS BUSINESS TO DAVID.  HE WAS A MAESTRO AT THE BARBEQUE GRILL LIKE NO OTHER, AND IF HE MADE A STEAK FOR YOU, YOU WERE PRETTY MUCH RUINED FOR LIFE, AS NO OTHER WOULD COMPARE.  BUT JUST AS HE LOVED TO PREPARE IT, HE LOVED TO EAT GOOD FOOD.  HIS SISTERS KNEW WHAT TIME IT WAS WHEN DAVID CAME BY.  AS FIXING HIM A PLATE BECAME AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A JOYFUL EXPERIENCE FOR HE AND THEM, FOR WATCHING HIM EAT WAS A SUCH A PLEASURE.

DAVID HAD 4 CHILDREN;  DAVID MARRIED DEBRA CLEMENTS AND FROM THIS UNION  CAME DAVID CLEMENTS, AND LATANYA GADSON.   DAVID LATER MET LISA MULDROW, FROM THIS UNION CAME MAURICE MULDROW.   DAVID MET DAVITA BAKER, FROM THIS UNION CAME MONIQUE BAKER.  HE LOVED ALL OF HIS CHILDREN, AND THEIR MOTHERS.                                      

 ON JANUARY 27, 1997, DAVID MARRIED SHEILA HIGHTOWER THEY SHARED 25 YEARS TOGETHER BEFORE HIS PASSING.  THERE WEERE NO CHILDREN FROM THIS UNION.   SHEILA HAS BEEN KNOW TO SAY “SHE NEVER KNEW WHAT A MAN WAS UNTIL SHE MET DAVID”    

DAVID LEAVES BEHIND TO MOURN, HIS WIFE SHEILA JACKSON, HIS FOUR CHILDREN: TONYA GADSON, DAVID CLEMENTS, MONIQUE BAKER AND MAURICE JACKSON. HIS THREE SISTERS: ANNETTE JACKSON, GLORIA JACKSON, ADRIAN PENNY JACKSON, AND MANY NUMEROUS NEPHEWS, NEICES,  COUSINS AND FAMILY.

DAVID MADE A MARK IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR HEARTS AND WE WILL MISS HIM.

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