Curtis Riley Jackson

Third generation Globe native Curtis Riley Jackson hung up his spurs for the last time on August 3, 2011 ten days shy of his 82nd birthday. He was born August 13, 1929 to Riley and Mary Lois (Jennings) Jackson in Globe, Arizona. Hs schooling consisted of attending the one room school house at El Capitan with other locals including the Sheppards and Ortega’s and eventually Globe High. He joined the US Army along with friend Lynn Stratton and was stationed in Berlin, Germany with B Company, 759 Military Police Battalion after World War II. After the Army he returned to work the family ranch until it was sold then continued working as a cowboy on several ranches in southern Arizona including the Empire Ranch in Sonoita for Bob Boice. There he met and eventually married Nancy Rae Stockbridge who was exercising race and pony horses at the Rillito Race Track in Tucson. Realizing that cowboy wages were not going to raise a family he went to work in construction. He was in later years very proud that his Local 428 Operators union card was older than some of the young pups that worked for and with him. He started as an equipment operator, then a grade checker, and as his experience grew he worked his way into many foreman and superintendent positions. These positions in construction led to adventures from the Alaska Pipeline to a pipeline in Indonesia. He even moved the family to Australia for a year on one adventure. He worked jobs from California to Maryland. Many of these jobs were very important to the state of Arizona from the interstate system all across the state, the CAP project through the Valley, and to locally the building of the Pinto Valley Mine and infrastructure. And some of those jobs were not quite so noteworthy like building beer can pyramids under a Klein water tank with the crew after a long hot day of eating dirt. After divorcing in 1983 he continued working until retirement meeting many new friends and special people along the way. He was married for a time to the lady he escorted to the Globe High school prom, Mary Francis Reyes. He was a Master Mason in the Chacedony Masoni Lodge #6 of Holbrook, AZ He was a true cowboy in heart and spirit. He never missed a chace to get back in the saddle. Whether it was chasing wild cattle along the Gila River on the Battle Ax or busting brush on Lynn Sheppards YO ranch in the Pinals, that’s where he wanted to be. Riding on the YO brought him as close as he could be to where he grew up and the life he knew. Over the last several years he complained that there was no one left to visit or share the old stories with. Well, you can bet their all together telling some whoppers now. That was meant to say true and factual details of lost Arizona history but it didn’t seem to fit. He is survived by his daughter Kellie (Mickey) Gomez of Tucson and son Scott (Kari) Jackson of Globe. Grandchildren include Erick (Heather) Jackson of Queen Creek, Brian (Heather) Jackson also from Queen Creek, April DalleNogare in Tucson, and Riley DalleNogare of Mesa. There are three grandchildren but many more that knew him as Grandpa Curt or Grandpa Jackson. The family would like to thank his special caregiver over the last many months, Kari Jackson.