LOCALS LOVE US: Bessie Jackson gives her all to Marble Falls area

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

MARBLE FALLS — When Bessie Jackson learned people voted her the 2015 Locals Love Us favorite volunteer for the Marble Falls area, tears welled up in her eyes.

“Oh, my,” she said. “This is just so special. This just shows that people are watching you. They see what you’re doing.”

And for years, Jackson has been doing good in the community. There are a handful of people everyone seems to come across in the Marble Falls and Granite Shoals area who are involved in everything. Bessie Jackson is one of those people.

It’s not that she’s nosy or a busybody. You see, Bessie is too busy for any of that. She’s hip-deep in projects, organizations and programs, all of which benefit other people. Even though she’s not originally from the area (she moved to the Highland Lakes from the Dallas area in the 1980s), Bessie has made this place her home. And as her home, she does what she can to take care of it and its people.

For almost three decades, she’s volunteered with the St. Frederick Baptist Church’s Mission Outreach, which provides meals to the area’s hungry. But that’s just the tip of her volunteerism.

She’s active in the church, recently helping to promote the Black History Month programs and events.

As a community-minded person, Bessie has stepped up to the political plate more than once. Marble Falls Independent School District residents elected her to the school board in the 1990s. Then, after moving to Granite Shoals in 2000, she eventually won a spot on the Granite Shoals City Council, serving until 2012.

During its 2013 banquet, the Marble Falls-Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce named her the 2012 Outstanding Citizen.

“I’m blessed, I’m truly blessed,” Bessie said.

But then, the community is blessed to have her as well.

daniel@thepicayune.com