If it were not for this woman, I would not be who I am today. She raised me until I was five and then took my younger sister and me in when our mother passed. Rest in peace Grandma.
Mrs. Arnetta Lundy Jackson, a pillar in the Gainesville community, passed from this life on Sunday morning, October 30, 2016 surrounded in love by her children and family after 95 years on this earth.
Born on February 19, 1921, in Jacksonville, Florida, she was the daughter of the late James Lundy and Cassie Hutcherson Outlaw.
She attended Risley High School in Brunswick, Georgia, and graduated with honors in the Adult Program from the historic Lincoln High School in Gainesville. Mrs. Jackson continued her education at the Santa Fe Community College. She was inducted into the Lincoln High School Hall of Fame in 2014.
Mrs. Jackson was a passionate advocate of early childhood education in underserved communities and became the first director of the Northeast Day Care Center serving 1968 to 1986, and helped usher in one the first Head Start programs in Florida. Upon retirement, she volunteered as a foster grandparent in the pre-kindergarten classes at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Elementary School from 1993 to 2007. She was active in politics for nearly 60 years and honored by the Alachua County Democratic Party for her many decades of service.
Having joined the church at an early age, Mrs. Jackson remained an active servant throughout her life. She was the clerk for the Emanuel Missionary Baptist Church for over 30 years and served for many years as chairman of the Trustee Board. She was also the financial secretary for the Jerusalem Women’s Convention of the Florida General Baptist Convention.
She was also a founding member of the Amicae chapter of Delta Sigma Zeta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., of Gainesville.
The loving mother of six children, Mrs. Jackson is survived by her three daughters and a son. She was blessed by grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Her son, Walter Glenn Stewart, and daughters, Evelyn Delores Jackson and Antoinette Martinia Jenkins, predeceased her.
Funeral services for Mrs. Arnetta Jackson will be held at 3 p.m., November 5, 2016, at Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Association, 8810 NE Waldo Road, Fairbanks. Rev.Anthony Thomas will officiate. Burial will follow in Forest Meadows East, 3700 SE Hawthorne Road, Gainesville. Arrangements entrusted to Chestnut Funeral Home, Inc., 18 NW 8th Avenue, Gainesville. Mrs. Jackson will repose in the Chestnut Memorial Chapel on Friday, November 4 from 2-7 p.m.
She loved this song and Alvin Ailey