Bernetta Jackson, professor emerita of English and of education, both in Arts & Sciences, died Thursday, April 6, 2000, at Swansea Care Center in Swansea, Ill. She was 86.
Jackson joined the University in 1956 as a lecturer in English. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1967 and then was appointed as associate professor in both English and education in 1974. She was named a full professor in both departments in 1980 and then received emeritus status upon retiring in 1981. Despite her formal retirement, she continued to teach in the English department through 1992. She co-authored the College English Reference Handbook, which was published during her time at the University.
Born in O'Fallon Township, Ill., in 1913, Jackson began her schooling in a one-room schoolhouse. She earned a bachelor's degree from McKendree College in 1933, after only two years of study, during which time she attained the highest grade point average ever achieved at McKendree.
She began teaching at the O'Fallon Grade School and, in 1935, at the O'Fallon Township High School. She met her husband-to-be while he was stationed at Scott Air Force Base; the couple was wed in 1944.
Jackson earned a master's degree in 1949 from the University of Illinois.
She was a member of the O'Fallon Historical Society, the Richmond Heights Library Board, as well as several University-oriented associations.
Jackson, who was preceded in death by her husband, Stonewall "Jack" Jackson, in 1977, requested that her body be donated to the Washington University School of Medicine. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the O'Fallon United Church of Christ or to the St. Joseph Cemetery.
