Robert Allen Jackson

In Loving Memory of Bobby Jackson My father passed quietly from this world on the evening of August 23rd after fighting a long battle with pancreatic cancer. His family was nearby and his ever loyal Golden Lab Bailey never left his side. It was a peaceful ending. Dad was diagnosed in November and there were no guarantees he would make it to Christmas let alone August of 2016. He never bought into any of that as he was determined to live every day forward with as much meaning as possible. My mother and his wife of sixty two years was his loving caretaker. Their courage, dignity, and grace will inspire me forever. Dad never surrendered or felt sorry for himself, instead he lived every day to the fullest. He was supported by family members, some truly incredible friends, and by many in the legal community who touched his career as a criminal defense trial lawyer for almost fifty years in Oklahoma City. Dad graduated from Classen High School. He started his college education at Oklahoma A&M, but transferred to OU where he would earn his Bachelors in Business. He then joined the Navy where he eventually reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Instead of opting to choose the Navy as a career he instead returned to Oklahoma City and entered night law school at Oklahoma City University while he worked days as an adjustor for the Hartford Insurance Company. Dad went on to graduate number one in his class of 1965. He initially decided to work for an established firm in Oklahoma City. That wasn't the type of lawyer my father wanted to be. He had a passion for becoming a criminal defense trial lawyer and steered his career in that direction. My father was a people person first and foremost. He genuinely loved people and always had a place in his heart for an underdog. Putting this aside he was an excellent trial lawyer and knew his way around a courtroom. He was a natural. When I think of Dad in his prime as a trial lawyer I think of him being like the Jake Brigance character in the John Grisham novel A Time to Kill. One of Dad's close friends described him as a 'character with character'. I'll go further. Dad was one part Vince Bugliosi, one part Jesse James (literally), and one part Ferris Bueller. It was never boring being with my father. I can't to this day think of one boring conversation or a day when you could tie him down long enough without some sort of adventure taking place. My life from this point forward will never be the same. I'll miss my father and friend. I'll miss seeing him with Bailey or fishing at the pond near my house with his grandchildren. I'll miss the adventures. I'll miss talking to him about college football, Russell Westbrook, fabricated fishing stories, one of his cases, or a new book written by his favorite trial lawyer Vince Bugliosi. I'll miss my father, but he lived a wonderful life and it's time for the next step. It's not his end, but rather his new beginning on a more glorious, more beautiful, more spectacular journey and it's his time to move forward and our time to embrace the moment. Dad's memorial service will be on October 1st, 1:00pm, at the pond pavilion behind the Crossings Church at NW 150th and Portland. It will be a celebration of his life and the continuation of his journey. Love, Mike To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Robert Allen Jackson please visit our Sympathy Store.