Richard Woolley (Dick) Jackson
1915 ~ 2010
Richard Woolley Jackson passed away April 16, 2010. Born August 21, 1915, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Samuel Andrew Jackson and Annie Iretta Woolley, he was the fourth of 12 children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. He attended public schools in Salt Lake City as well as Latter-day Saint High School. He graduated from West High School in 1933 and later attended the University of Utah. He studied architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his architectural degree in 1943.
Dick married Hazel Phillips on June 10, 1942, in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of six children: Lou Ann (Robert) Anderson, Richard P. (Sharon) Jackson, Kent P. (Nancy) Jackson, David P. (Vicki) Jackson, Charlene (Randall) Locke, and Roger P. (Rhonda) Jackson. He is survived by all of his children, 31 grandchildren, and 59 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, his parents, his parents-in-law, Abel J and Emma Goates Phillips, his sisters Florence Fetzer, Louise Jackson, Muriel Larsen, and Merle Jackson, his brothers Taylor, Amos, Calvin, and Wilford, and his son-in-law Robert H. Anderson. He is survived by his sisters Maureen McLean, Laura Kunz, and Esther Wallace.
Early in his career as an architect, Dick was employed by The building department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For most of his professional life, he was in private practice, primarily in the firms Jackson and Jackson (with his brother Amos); Jackson and Sharp; and Jackson, Sharp, and Pinegar. Much of his private practice involved the designing of Latter-day Saint meetinghouses. Thousands of Latter-day Saints in Utah and other western states worship each Sunday in buildings that he designed and saw to completion.
From 1961 to 1963, Dick interrupted his private practice to serve the Church in western Europe, overseeing the work of local architects in the construction of LDS meetinghouses in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and France. During that time, he lived with his family in Naarden, the Netherlands.
In 1969 Dick accepted an invitation to work again for the Church. Along with other duties, he had responsibilities for architectural oversight of Church historical buildings, participating in the renovation of the Newell K. Whitney Store in Kirtland, Ohio, the Grandin Building in Palmyra, New York, and the Church's developments at Fayette, New York. He retired in 1985. In the later years of his life, his interest in the history of LDS architecture culminated in his authoring of Places of Worship: 150 Years of Latter-day Saint Architecture, published by the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University in 2003.
Dick was a loving husband and father and loved his daughters-in-law and sons-in-law as much as he loved his own children. He was also a talented musician. He played flute for many years in the McCune Orchestra and was for a while the conductor of the Murray City Orchestra.
Dick served his Heavenly Father as a missionary in Denmark 1934-37. His subsequent service included a variety of Church callings and much informal service to family, neighbors, and others. He was present at the establishment of the Canyon Rim Stake and was a member of the Canyon Rim 2nd and 3rd Wards. From 1982 to 1983, Dick and Hazel filled a Church service assignment in the Eldredge Ward of the South Salt Lake Stake, and they served a mission in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1989. There Dick designed and oversaw the construction of three buildings and assisted with other buildings and structures in Nauvoo and Carthage.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, April 20, at 2 p.m. at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary, 3401 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City. Friends may call on Monday, April 19 from 6-8 p.m. at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary and on Tuesday 12:45-1:45 p.m. prior to the service. Interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.