About Us

James (Jim) Robert Jackson

April 8, 1942 – Acme, Alberta – May 10, 2025 – Calgary, Alberta

Jim Jackson passed away on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at Dulcina Hospice Care in Calgary. Jim is survived by his wife, Donna, of 55 years, his four children, and seven grandchildren: Janet (David), Brenda, her children Cruise and Colton, Deanna (Brad), their children Jamiel and Emily, and Jim Jr. (Karla), their children Nicholas, Reid, and Kaitlyn.

Jim was born on a farm at the “Foster House” west of Acme, Alberta, on April 8, 1942. He was Ken and Olga Jackson’s only child. Jim was a proud third-generation Albertan. His grandparents homesteaded on their farm west of Acme in 1903, and the first winter was spent in a tent.

Jim was raised on a mixed farm west of Acme, where they had cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, and grain, specializing in 56,000 laying hens and broiler chickens. He built all the barns. During his childhood, he spent a lot of time with his many Jackson and Hauser cousins, aunts, and uncles, many of whom lived on the neighboring farms between Acme and Carstairs. He was an honor roll student who was a great athlete. He played hockey, won awards in skidoo racing, and played baseball, basketball, and curling, winning a Grand Aggregate. When Jim was a young man, he was in a band called the Rebels with his friends and cousins, where he played the saxophone at all the local dances in Acme and the surrounding area.

Jim began dating Donna Nielsen after they reconnected at an Acme wedding dance in 1969. Jim really loved vanilla ice cream, and he took Donna on dates for ice cream to Peter’s Drive-In in Calgary.

They had early snow in 1969 and were married on December 6, 1969, after the harvest was completed. They lived on the chicken farm, which was destroyed by a tornado on July 8, 1972, while Jim, Donna, and Janet were at the Calgary Stampede Chuckwagon races. The farm was sold in 1976. Jim built a house and moved to Linden. Later, he built another house and moved to Acme, where he worked as a carpenter and builder. Of his career choices, Jim said he liked “BUILDING THE BEST.”

Jim went to SAIT for his journeyman carpentry training, where he achieved top marks and SAIT wrote off his first year due to his Building experience. He later ran his own contracting business called J.R. Jackson Construction, building houses, barns, and helping with the construction of some of the churches in the area, Linden, Acme, Beiseker, Irricana.

Jim built Donna their dream home on another farm west of Acme. This house was destroyed by a fire on December 8, 1985. Despite both tragedies, we thank God that no one was hurt. We are very grateful to the people of Acme, Linden, and the Mennonite communities; they all helped us so much in the cleanup of both the tornado-damaged farm and the fire-destroyed house.

The family later moved to an acreage east of Airdrie, where they raised horses, cats, and dogs. He loved attending Janet and Brenda’s rodeos, 4H, Deanna’s baseball games, and Jimmy’s hockey games when they were young.

Jim became a licensed realtor for 33 years with the Calgary Real Estate Board. He received many awards for being in the Top 100 Realtors. He was a broker-owner specializing in residential, rural land, and commercial sales, working with Donna and Brenda (the ACTION JACKSONS) and renovating and selling houses.

Jim was a humble man with profound wisdom and strong values. He was loving, kind, caring, a great husband, father, and grandfather who was trusted, respected, and loved by everyone who knew him. He was an independent free thinker and took pride in teaching his children how to think for themselves. He had a wonderful dry sense of humour.

Jim had a keen interest in helping the community, volunteering, and daily interest in current events and politics, which included many discussions with his wife while watching FOX NEWS. He enjoyed sharing his ideas and keen analysis on Facebook, attending political meetings, knocking on doors, and putting up many signs for local political candidates, teaching his children and grandchildren to do the same.

Later in years, Jim was kept busy attending his grandchildren’s sporting events: Baseball, Hockey, Soccer, and Football. He was very proud of all his children and grandchildren’s individual accomplishments. He took the time most days to make sure his granddaughter Emily got home from the school bus. Jim beamed with joy teaching his grandchildren to build birdhouses, doghouses, desks.

Jim and Donna sold the Airdrie Acreage and downsized moved into the City of Airdrie when the children were all grown. What made Jim successful in his career and life was his work ethic and determination. He often said, “DO THE BEST YOU CAN – NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO.”

Jim loved his family very much. He was always interested and concerned about the welfare of each of his children and grandchildren, TALKING TO THEM ON THE PHONE EVERYDAY, always ready to give an encouraging word and discuss the current events of the day. Dad was always available to help his children with their struggles in life.

JIM taught his children life lessons: “YOU NEVER GET BORED.” “YOU DO SOMETHING.” “YOU THINK OF SOMETHING TO DO.” “YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE NOTHING TO DO BECAUSE THAT IS A SIGN YOU’RE NOT THINKING.” “AND ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH.”