By George Edmonston Jr.

Glen L. Jackson

Success in high school—good attendance, good grades, the respect of teachers and fellow students—often leads to success in life and career and family. During his early life, Oregon Stater Glenn Jackson followed another path. For a time it looked as if he was destined to be anything but successful.

Jackson was, by his own admittance, a problem student at Albany High School. That’s problem with a capital "P," as in expelled and not allowed to graduate. Out of school, he spent his time in the town’s pool halls and bowling alleys. In September 1980 he told writer Mike McCracken of the Oregon Stater, "I spent more time ducking the truant officer than I did studying."

This was an amazing statement from a man who would become the most respected citizen of the state, and, in many ways, the Pacific Northwest. He was known as "Mr. Oregon" to everyone who knew him or knew of him, and after his graduation in commerce from OAC in 1925, he never ducked from another thing, especially his never-ending efforts to make his home state a better place for its citizens.

He was born on April 27, 1902. His father owned the Albany Daily Democrat, later merged into the Democrat-Herald, and was also the superintendent of schools for the district.

In the early 1920s, tired of his life going nowhere, Jackson enrolled at Oregon Agricultural College without telling his parents. Old ways returned and he quickly found himself in trouble with both grades and attendance. Trying to hang on to what college life he had left, he met with OAC Registrar E.B. Lemon, a no-nonsense administrator who made the young lad a deal. Take 22 credits the next term and maintain a "B" average. Or face the boot.

Jackson buckled down. He also discovered Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and wanted to become a member. To do that, he had to stay in school. "I got wise to the fact that I either had to buy some books and work at it, or drop out," he said. "I bought some books."

He slowly developed into a good student and began to take on extra-curricular responsibilities: president of the school’s Masonic Club, captain in Army ROTC, member of Scabbard and Blade, president of ATO and member of the Inter-Fraternity Council. He remembered, "Once I commenced to enter into the spirit of getting an education, I really enjoyed it."

After graduation, he began his career selling electrical appliances door-to-door. He was transferred to Casper, Wyo., where he met his wife, Helen.

In 1928, his boss assumed the presidency of the California-Oregon Power Co. and took Jackson along to the firm’s headquarters in Medford. Jackson became a district sales manager.

When war broke out in 1941, he left for the military, serving as a colonel in the Army Air Corps in England and Italy.

After the war, he borrowed money to buy an interest in a small lumber mill. Tiring of this and selling his stock, he went back to work for his old power company and moved up the corporate ladder. In 1971, when the company merged with Pacific Power and Light, he became vice chairman of the board, later chairman. In 1973, he became chairman of the company’s executive council. Jackson was set, and quickly became a businessman’s businessman.

When he died on June 20, 1980, he had been (at one time or another) a rancher, golf course developer, industrial park developer, owner of nine newspapers and a magazine for stamp collectors, chairman of the board of Air Oregon, which he helped found, and director of the United States Chambers of Commerce. He also had held positions on the Oregon Development Commission, where he did pioneering work in helping to diversify the state’s economy, the Oregon Centennial Commission, and the state Planning and Development Advisory Committee. In addition, he had put in a stint as director of the Oregon Agri-Business Council.

He was also a board member for the United States National Bank of Oregon, U.S. Bancorp, Fred Meyer Stores and the Standard Insurance Co. At OSU he was a member of the OSU Foundation Board of Directors, the President’s Club, and in 1972, had been presented with the university’s highest honor...the Distinguished Service Award.

For 17 years, Jackson served as chair of the Oregon Highway Commission (in 1968 the name was changed to the Oregon Transportation Commission), where he helped guide the construction of interstate highways, the I-405 freeway, numerous greenways and state parks, the Astoria Bridge—longest single-span bridge in the West—the Marquam and Fremont bridges in Portland, and the I-205 bridge near Oregon City. Just before his death, he was told a second I-205 bridge across the Columbia would be named in his honor. Unfortunately he didn’t live to see it.

When he worked for the Oregon Highway Commission, he turned in what may have been the one thing that has made the most difference to generations of Oregonians, past, present and future.

It was Jackson who helped guide his group to the idea of installing rest areas along Oregon’s highways, making the state a national leader in driver safety. Think of the lives this has saved in the last 50 years.

George Edmonston Jr. is editor of the Oregon Stater and Eclips. This feature on Glenn L. Jackson was written based on stories in issues of the Stater dating from January and September 1980 and written by Mike McCracken.