LITTLE ROCK — Standing 6-foot-6, Arkansas State Police Maj. Buren Jackson was a towering symbol of authority and compassion while wearing his uniform.
“They called him ‘Major One-Way’ because it was always his way,” said his son, Bob Jackson. “The younger troopers who were afraid of him called him ‘Major Sir.’”
Samuel Buren Jackson, who worked with the state police for 33 years, died Saturday at his Jonesboro home from unknown causes, his son said.
He was 84.
Jackson was raised an Arkansas farm boy and had planned to stay that way.
“He had a crop failure one year and got disgusted and decided to go to the state police,” Bob Jackson said, adding his father had served as a part-time deputy sheriff for Craighead County.
Jackson became a trooper in 1955 in Dumas and a year later, went to Craighead County for the next 18 years. Even though his shift was 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., Jackson was always on call.
“He was only one of two troopers in the county,” his son said. “If there was an accident, he literally had to get up and go work it.”
While Jackson was an outgoing man who enjoyed helping others, he was never able to escape some of the tragic memories of his career. Bob Jackson said just last week his father recalled being a young trooper responding to an accident where a child’s horse had been hit by a car,leaving him no choice but to kill the animal.
“He put the horse down, and did it in front of a child, and that haunted him to this day,” his son said. “The child said ‘I hate you,’ and that really affected him.”
However, to help heal the wounds from every sad situation were letters of thanks from people whom Jackson had helped along the way, from changing flat tires to mentoring young troopers.
“From what other people had told us, he was fair to everyone,” Bob Jackson said. “He gave breaks when people needed it, he was tough when people needed it.”
His wife, Ruth Jackson, added, “You hear words like, ‘He was an inspiration, a legacy.’”
In 1977, Jackson was promoted to major and served in Little Rock until his retirement in 1988.
Bob Jackson said that because his father was 60 years old, he had to retire and became a Realtor in Little Rock for the next 10 years out of “necessity.”
“He always liked to wheel-and-deal and fix things up and sell them,” said his daughter, Carolyn Hames.
On any given weekend, Jackson could be found crappie fishing on Lake Chicot near Lake Village, fulfilling his duties as a master Mason or attending a church service at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Jonesboro.
“He grew up in a very strong religious background,” Hames said.
His son added, “Before supper, they had Bible readings and prayer every night.”
Jackson’s daughter-in law Peggy Jackson said the “Arkansas State Police always came first” in his life and, lucky for her, his reputation crossed state lines.
While driving with her mother-in-law near Yeehaw Junction in Osceola County, Fla., a state trooper stopped her for speeding.
“[Ruth Jackson] leaned over and said, ‘Her daddy in-law would be proud you stopped her,’” Peggy Jackson said, adding the trooper knew who her father-in-law was.
“He let me through, too,” she laughed.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 11/06/2012