Ex-Kootenai County commissioner dies

Glenn Jackson

Post Falls

Memorial service for former Kootenai County Commission Chairman Glenn R. Jackson, 73, will be Friday at 1p.m. at Yates Funeral Home, Hayden Chapel.

Mr. Jackson, who was born in Syracuse, N.Y., died March 19 at Kootenai Medical Center.

He moved to California with his family at age 5 and graduated from high school in South Tahoe, Calif., where he raced as a snow skier. He earned a pilot’s license at the age of 16 and owned his own plane one year later.

Mr. Jackson served with the Air Force in Biloxi, Miss., during the Korean War and attained the rank of sergeant before his military discharge.

He graduated from San Jose State College in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science in industrial management . He later earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Idaho and completed the academic portion of a Ph.D. at UI.

Mr. Jackson briefly worked for Pisano Brothers Construction Co. in California before owning his own construction company. He then went to work as vice president of marketing for W.R. Ames Co., an irrigation equipment and shelving manufacturer in Milpitas, Calif., from 1962 to 1971.

He married his wife, Lynn in 1965.

The couple settled in Post Falls in 1971 after he purchased Ponsness-Warren Inc. of Rathdrum, a shotgun shell, rifle and pistol reloading equipment manufacturer.

Mr. Jackson was elected as a Republican to a four-year term as Kootenai County commissioner in 1980 and sold his business in 1983.

He was re-elected to a two-year term on the commission in 1984 and served until his defeat in the 1986 Republican primary election. He served as commission chairman during his entire tenure as county commissioner and was instrumental in beginning the county paramedic program.

Mr. Jackson then formed a management mediation and land-use planning consulting service, G.R. Jackson and Associates.

In 1990 he began working as a senior research associate for Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Urban and Local Studies in 1990 and was employed there until the institute closed in 1994.

Mr. Jackson then became a partner with his son, Scott, and opened Digital Productions in Coeur d’Alene. They sold the business in 1998.

He then served for three years with the Idaho Department of Disaster Services as coordinator of the $16.7 million Milo Creek flood-control project in Wardner and Kellogg.

Mr. Jackson most recently consulted with the University of Idaho in the development of a nonpolluting method for the U.S. Forest Service to convert slash and small timber into energy.

He enjoyed the outdoors and was active in hunting, fishing, scuba diving, and sailboat racing on Lake Coeur d’Alene. He was a champion trap shooter and a licensed glider.

Survivors include his wife, Lynn; five children, Mark Jackson of Troutdale, Ore., Scott Jackson of Worley, Idaho, Glenn Jackson of Rathdrum, Maree Boyd of Coeur d’Alene and Sara Jackson of Hayden, Idaho; two stepchildren, Laura Ulrich of Hayden, Idaho, and Mike Veazie of Los Gatos, Calif.; two brothers, Norm of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Bud of Montgomery, Ala.; and 11 grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to the Kootenai County Paramedic Program, c/o Kootenai County Emergency Medical Services System, P.O. Box 2823, Post Falls, ID 83854.