April 20, 1951   -   July 29, 2011

Johnny Jackson of the Maplewood Class of 1969 said this about his first cousin Russell, who was more like a brother to him than a cousin:

“Russell had suffered a heart attack about 10 years ago and was still having breathing problems, though he had never smoked.  I talked to him the day before he died and he had been doing some weed-eating and gotten very hot.  The next day he went to see my mom and said he had to leave.  He had stopped and gotten a coke and a sandwich and they found him on his front porch.  He had not eaten any of the sandwich.”

Johnny went on to say:

“As kids we were always at each other's house every day.  In adulthood we talked every day or night about anything on our minds.  One of the last things we were talking about was when Jesus was going to rapture the church.  Russell said, 'Well we may have our own personal rapture first...'

He did and I will miss him.”

--Posted September 7, 2011