REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
By John Tredrea
As you can see in the Letters to the Editor section this week, Dave Jackson will be moving on at the end of the year. Mr. Jackson, a UPS deliveryman, has been working full time in the Pennington area for 22 years.
If there ever was a walking embodiment of the old country song, "Keep on the Sunny Side," it’s Dave. He is always upbeat as can be, with an amazing positive energy. He smiles, says hello, jokes around, asks after your family members by their first name, wishes you well and away he goes, working up a storm.
Dave is not a big man physically, but he seems to be constantly doing enough work for two men, each twice his size. You’ll see him carrying or hand-trucking a stack of packages so wide and tall that he can just about see around it, moving fast, often carrying on a good-natured wise-cracking conversation or two with old friends as he takes care of business. It’s kind of like witnessing a live performance of work called "The Marx Brothers Meet the Power of Positive Thinking."
More than once over the past 20 years, he’s pulled over his truck when he’s seen me walking down the street so he could make a delivery of a small package or big envelope right then and there. "I thought it might be a help if you got that right away," he’d explain. It was always much more like running into a good friend than being involved in a business transaction.
A devoted family man and then some, I know he is a history buff who participates in re-enactments of pivotal moments in our nation’s history and that he is a man of strong religious faith. That this faith has served him, and us, very well seems clear as day to me now, and this seems like an especially good time of year to say so.
Dave moved to Pennsylvania a few years ago and now commutes 65 miles to a long, hard workday. I’m glad he will be able to leave that ordeal behind. He has dealt with it for a long, long time more proof of what a trouper he is. But we sure will miss him.
Good luck, Dave. Come back and see us.