- Date Of Birth: June 3, 1912
- Date Of Death: August 29, 2015
- State: Georgia
Frances Marion Richards Jackson, Died August 29, 2015 One of Newnan’s oldest citizens died Saturday, August 29, 2015. Frances Marion Richards Jackson passed away peacefully at her home at the age of 103. Born June 3, 1912, in Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia, the oldest of three daughters born to Henry Evard Richards and Alma Reese Richards, she was raised in Newnan. After graduation from Newnan High School in the class of 1929, she furthered her education at Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, earning a diploma with the class of 1931.
Frances embarked on a professional career in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where she met Edward Burl Jackson of Ohio. They were married in May of 1943 in Rossville, Georgia. Both were involved in the famous Manhattan Project of World War II. Ed’s service in the Army led them to opportunities in Richland, Washington, where they spent most of their working life. While Ed worked as an engineer and manager for the Atomic Energy Commission, Frances served as the head librarian at the General Electric scientific library for many years. They retired to Newnan in 1984. They built a home on Elm Street, adjacent to Frances’ beloved sister, Edna Earl Hardy. Frances, Ed & Edna Earl were always together.
They were seen regularly at Cracker Barrel, Golden’s and Sprayberry’s. A waitress at Sprayberry’s once remarked that she thought Mr. Jackson had two wives. The bonded group of three looked after one another in their elder years, separated only in death first by Edna Earl in 2005 and then by Ed in 2010. Frances was a talented artist and in her retirement years enjoyed painting, needlepoint, stained glass work and other crafts. She loved to share her talents with family and friends. She was a woman of keen intellect, sharp wit and Southern charm. Frances loved to read and always enjoyed a good mystery – special favorites being the “Mrs. Pollifax” series, which featured a widowed senior citizen as the heroine.
Frances was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Alma Richards; her husband of sixty-six years, Edward Burl Jackson; and her sisters, Virginia Richards, who died in 1920 at the age of four, and Edna Earl Hardy. She is survived by her nephew, F. Andrew Byrd, his wife Beth of Little Rock, Arkansas; Andy’s children, Scott Byrd, his wife Yolanda; Leslie Byrd Biagioni, her husband Peter, their sons, Nathan and Zack; Blake Byrd, his daughter, Evie, all of Arkansas. Frances is also survived by a large contingent of her husband’s Jackson family, mostly in Ohio, including Ed’s siblings Daisy Jackson Clarke of Columbus, and Frank Jackson of Coshocton. From Duluth, Georgia, Ed’s niece Betsy Hickerson Wieber, her husband Ted, and their son Ted, provided important local support to enable Frances and Ed to meet their objective of staying in the home that they built and enjoyed.
