William Wingate Jackson

William (Bill) Wingate Jackson, age 91, died peacefully on September 16, 2020 in Decatur, GA, after a short illness, with his son and wife at his bedside. He was the son of the late Wingate and Georgia Jackson, and was proud to have lived in Decatur all his life. He graduated from Decatur Boys’ High School, attended Middle Georgia College, and graduated from Auburn University. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, serving during the Korean War, building landing fields on Baffin Island, inside the Arctic Circle.

After working for Johnson Service Company (now Johnson Controls), Bill started his own heating and air conditioning control business in the mid-1960’s. He sold that business and began Jackson Atlanta, Inc., a commercial refrigeration business. Honey Baked Hams chose Jackson Atlanta, Inc. to provide the substantial amounts of refrigeration equipment needed to outfit its many stores in the East as the chain began and expanded nationwide. He partnered with Sam Walston in his last and most ambitious projects, creating vast refrigerator and freezer buildings, and even a banana ripening facility, near the Atlanta airport. Those projects currently support the distribution of meat and produce all over the world. He retired from business in 2017.

Bill devoted himself to his family, and to a life of committed service at Decatur Presbyterian Church. At Decatur Presbyterian, he was ordained as a Deacon, and later an Elder; taught many adult Sunday School classes and was a member of longstanding in the Crusaders Sunday School Class. He compiled and edited a collection of his class lessons into a book, Lift High the Cross, which was published with help from the church. He treasured his time with family and friends at the mountain house he loved in Montreat, NC.

Bill is survived by his loving wife of three years, Elizabeth (Betty) Mackay Asbury; and his devoted son, William Wingate (Win) Jackson, Jr. His wife of 61 years, Anne McMaster Jackson, and his sons, Douglas McMaster Jackson and Stewart Wyllie Jackson, predeceased him.