A Man Who Measures Up

I first met Don Jackson somewhere around 1985 and through the years our friendship has just been one of those that keeps on going. For some reason we just can't get out of each other's lives so it must be meant to be! I have dragged him kicking and screaming into more stuff than you could imagine, so maybe he just maintains our friendship in the hope that one day he can "get me back"!

Don was born in Newnan, Georgia on January 1st, 1925 (27 years before me) and graduated from Bremen High School in Bremen, Georgia in 1942. Like so many of his time, after Pearl Harbor he joined the armed forces to serve his country and Don chose the U.S. Navy. He served throughout the South Pacific on a destroyer escort (DE) called the Elden. He was in the Marshall Islands, Leyte Gulf, Guam, Okinawa and many other places, but most interestingly ... Iwo Jima! One has to search diligently today to find a veteran of Iwo Jima, but to you folks in Cartersville, Georgia just stop by Jax Supply Company at 19 Gilmer Street and meet one. Don is physically able to do anything that I can do and I have never even had a thought that he couldn't. As a matter of fact, he just opened this business last year (2006) at the age of 81. I challenge anyone to find a survivor of Iwo Jima that just opened a business!

After the war,Don attended college at Emory University where he earned a Bachelor's degree with a major in psychology. He was in the Navy Reserve and was called up again during the Korean Conflict but he fortunately served this time at the naval air station in Jacksonville, Florida. Don eventually wound up in the insurance business after a stint at General Motors Chevrolet plant in East Point, Georgia. At GM he refused to join the labor union, so they made his life miserable. He gave them the fickle finger of fate and was next employed by Hardware Mutuals (which later became Sentry Insurance) in outside sales but quickly realized that being a salesman was not his bag so he came inside to be the manager at the office at 5th and Peachtree in Atlanta.

While managing the office, he was in charge of contracts with cleaning service companies that maintained the building the insurance company occupied. He quickly noticed that this was his opportunity to work for himself and not have to answer to a boss. After making a decision to start his own janitorial services company, he went to his supervisor and asked for the contract to clean the insurance building. Being granted this contract, he was on his way to a long and successful career in the janitorial services business. A few years ago he retired, sold his home in Marietta and moved northward to the countryside of Bartow county. His retirement, however, didn't last very long and soon he was in negotiation for a lease on a building in downtown Cartersville to house his Jax Supply business (770-606-1996), which is a distributor for janitorial equipment and supplies. I'm glad he did this because now when I am working in Cartersville it is easy to drop by and take him to lunch and shoot the breeze for a while.

When Don and I attended the same church years ago, he was nominated to serve on the diaconate. For some reason he didn't think he measured up to the task, so I urged him to serve anyway and to remember that if any of us had "measured up", there would be no need for Christ. We serve out of gratitude because we don't measure up and yet God accepts us as righteous anyway because of the perfect righteousness of Christ. He did a fantastic job as a deacon!

Later I joined a barbershop chorus ( The Marietta Big Chicken Chorus) and was having a blast singing with this group of about 150 men. Don is a pretty good bass so I urged him to join. He told me he didn't think he measured up! "Here we go again", I thought, so I had to explain that nobody cared if he wasn't the best bass in the world but that he would surely miss out on having a great time if he didn't come sing with us. It wasn't long before he was standing on the risers just singing away! He went with the chorus to England and Scotland! We traveled all over the United States every 4th of July week to our international competitions and during this time Don became a leader in the chorus and was recognized for all of his hard work by his many friends. Believe me, he measured up and a whole lot more.

Don gets up early and stops by the gym to work-out almost every single day and is in better shape than most men I know that are half his age.

The girls at Doug's Restaurant in Cartersville love him and I love to take him by there and watch them make a fuss over him.

It always amazes me that Don still has a tendency to think that he doesn't measure up to something. The only thing that he doesn't measure up to is "liberals"! Stop by his shop and bring up the names John Kerry, Bill and Hillary Clinton or Ted Kennedy; then just sit back and watch the fireworks!

The truth is that I don't know of anyone who measures up to Don!

In my life I have had the good fortune to have some great friends and acquaintances, but I wouldn't trade my friendship with Don for any of them.

Don, you have enriched my life more than anybody I know and I look forward to many more lunches with you at Doug's!

If it makes you feel that you could measure up better ... you pay next time!