Larry Jackson

THE VILLAGES, Fla. -- Larry Havelock Jackson, 91, passed away Wednesday, July 18, 2018, at his home.

Larry resided in Cape Girardeau with his late wife, Jane Randol Jackson, from 1989 until they moved full-time to Florida in 2009. He spent his final days doing what he loved best: traveling. Larry completed an 11-day river boat cruise on the Great Lakes between Chicago and Toronto shortly before he died.

Larry was born in Bocas del Toro, Panama, in 1926 to his parents, Clement Havelock Jackson, a sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed in Panama, and his mother, Elena (Nellie) Winifreda Vaz, a native of Panama. At age 8, Larry and his family moved to Philadelphia, where he attended high school.

Upon graduation, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet June 6, 1944. After World War II ended, he left the service and graduated from La Salle College in Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Arts in French. Larry spent the summer of 1950 studying Spanish at the University of Havana in Cuba. He spoke five languages fluently (English, French, Spanish, Italian and German), and was proficient in two more (Portuguese and Latin).

Larry re-joined the military in 1951, becoming a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Larry flew combat missions in Korea and Vietnam. In Korea, he flew the T-6 Texan as a forward air controller. Larry also flew the T-28, T-33, B-25, F-80, DC-3, DC-4, DC-6, and he flew the C-130 in Vietnam during the siege of Khe Sanh.

Larry received his Master of Arts in French from Middlebury College in Vermont, with an academic year at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1957. Larry was an assistant professor of foreign languages at the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1957 to 1961. He also served as assistant air attache in Rome from 1962 to 1964. In order to accept that position, he learned to speak Italian in only a few weeks.

While in the Air Force, Larry was stationed in Panama, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, France, Spain, Austria and Belgium. After retiring from the USAF with the rank of major in 1972, Larry worked as a freelance interpreter at the United Nations in Vienna and the European Economic Community in Brussels until 1996.

Larry was a proud member of the Cape Girardeau West Rotary Club, where he was a Paul Harris Fellow, and the Rotary Club of The Villages. He was also a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau. Larry taught classes in the foreign language department at Southeast Missouri State University and wrote articles about wine for the Southeast Missourian.

Larry lived for 20 years on Butler Street in Cape Girardeau. After moving to Florida, Larry was surrounded by great neighbors on Rayburn Court in the Village of Hemingway. He also loved living at Sumter Place for the past two years, where he was president of the residents council until his death.

Larry is survived by his sister, Betty Kladitis of Shalimar, Florida, and four children, Carol Jackson and Connie Malone, both of Austin, Texas, Christopher Jackson of Indian Lake, New York, and Christopher Tilley of Riverview, Florida. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Services for Larry will be held at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The family asks donations be made in Larry's memory to the Red House Interpretive Center at 410 Kiwanis Dr., Cape Girardeau, MO 63701. Larry was involved in many events at the Red House, which his late wife, Jane Randol Jackson, helped found.

Arrangements are courtesty of Baldwin Brothers Funeral Home of Lady Lake, Florida.