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Author Topic: Laird 'Doc' Jackson  (Read 2238 times)

Online C.T. Schaefer

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Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« on: October 29, 2019, 05:54:28 AM »
Doc Jackson passed away two weeks ago after a long illness. He was almost 90 years old but up until he got sick several years ago he took part in our contests with his longtime pal Raul Diaz. Doc was a member of our club the Middlesex Modelers and a lifetime modeling enthusiast.
    Although I do not know the details, he represented the US on the world stage for many years as team manager and at FAI conferences. Hopefully, someone will help me out with those details? His modeling activities were a speck compared to his work as a doctor. It is easier to Google him than for me to describe his contributions in the health field.  Doc was a great guy and it was a great privilege to know and fly with him.

   Please chime in with your own memories.   Tom Schaefer  President,  Middlesex Modelers

Offline john e. holliday

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2019, 10:27:21 AM »
I first met him when I was trying to compete in F2C competition.  Thanks for the info. :(
John E. "DOC" Holliday
10421 West 56th Terrace
Shawnee, KANSAS  66203
AMA 23530  Have fun as I have and I am still breaking a record.

Online Bob Hunt

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2019, 06:43:23 AM »
Doc (Laird) was perhaps the most amazing human being I've ever known. Anything you have heard or read about Doc is but the tip of the iceberg of his existence. I met Doc a few years before actually making the United States F2B team in 1977. When I did make the team and got to England in 1978, Doc was already there and gave me the "skinny" on what, where, when, and how in short order. He also sensed, I think, my apprehension at being one of the "rookies" on the team, and told me to just let him know what I needed. For the next week, I didn't see Doc anywhere around... until he was needed. He just seemed to appear out of nowhere when there was something that required his attention. Then he would take care of the problem quickly and quietly and disappear again. I soon figured out that Doc was the best kind of manager; there when you needed him, and out of your way when he wasn't needed. He gave the team great freedom to "do the job" without having to be hands-on at every moment.

Over the years Doc and I became great friends. My wife, Marianne, and I would take motorcycle rides down into the area in which Doc and his wife, Marie, lived. We'd always stop in unannounced just to say hi, and on each occasion we were invited to stay the day and hang out with them. We flew 1/2A stunt models in his back yard, and ate constantly. Doc and Marie loved to entertain, and cooking stuff all day was the norm. We'd sample all kinds of neat cuisine, trade war stories from world championship experiences, and listen to Doc tell stories about modeling adventures and also about medical breakthroughs.

It was Doc's storytelling that was my favorite thing; he could keep a room of people spellbound for seemingly hours with his unique and engaging way of weaving a story. Perhaps you have read some of Doc's famed fables that he wrote after each managing stint at a world championships. For the members of the respective teams, the fables were just hilarious, because Doc was able to make fun of the myriad things that the team went through (both good and bad...) and turn them into something very fun to read. The fact that almost everything in the fables was an inside joke about something that happened to, or was caused by, a team member was not apparent to the casual reader. To the teams, those fables were just priceless.

In his later years, Doc would come up to build at my shop very often. He loved the food from my local Chinese restaurant, and would call out of the blue and announce that he was coming up to build and that he would grab lunch for both of us at that restaurant. My favorite memories of those building sessions were, again, the stories he would tell as we glued and sanded parts. I also liked the fact that Doc was open minded about hearing music that was new to him. Everyone who has built models at my shop (and there are a bunch of them...) will tell you that I always have music playing, and it is never pop stuff. Doc especially liked listening to one of my favorites, Jackson Browne.

A couple of years back, Doc showed up at my door with a bunch of boxes that were filled with amazingly light balsa. He didn't make it a big deal, but he said that he knew the balsa would get used by me and my friends in new projects. He didn't tell me he was Ill, but I figured that out pretty quickly. Shortly after that he and Marie sold their beautiful Bucks County home and move down to Philadelphia, where Doc would be very near the hospital and could get daily treatments for his illness.

My son, Robby saw the announcement of Doc's passing on the FAI website. I was stunned, but not surprised. I called Marie to extend condolences from my family, and we spoke for quite a while. She is, obviously, very sad at his passing, but she, like Doc did, takes in life head on. We spoke of all the good times and had some laughs about Doc's many adventures.

I know I will think of Doc often. In retrospect he was one of the most influential people I have ever known. He was a medical genius, and one of the most intelligent people I've ever known, but he was also one of the most warm and friendly people I've ever known as well.

Godspeed, Doc, you will never be forgotten.

Bob Hunt   
 

Online C.T. Schaefer

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2019, 05:26:43 AM »
Thanks Bob!   Anyone else?

Online Peter Germann

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2019, 05:36:28 AM »
Peter Germann

Offline Les McDonald

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2019, 06:43:33 PM »
Doc has always been one of my favorite people and years ago he was the director of some of my biggest adventures.
His life was a life well lived and I will always cherish the memories.
I see people my age out there climbing mountains and zip lining and here I am feeling good about myself because I got my leg through my underwear without losing my balance

Offline Paul Wescott

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2019, 12:18:22 PM »
From over here:

https://www.modellflug.ch/news.aspx?contid=20579&lang=DE

rgds. Peter Germann

Google Translation:

Dr.  Laird Jackson, a world-renowned geneticist, was awarded the Life of Cornelia de Lange Syndrome CdLS in 2017 by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics.  The world of science will miss him very much.

 In his scientific obituary it is mentioned that Laird Jackson was a passionate model airplane, in fact a captive airplane.  It therefore corresponded to his nature and his cosmopolitanism that he campaigned for many years in the FAI for the cause of model flying.  I had the honor and the privilege of working under Laird Jackson, as President of the CIAM Subcommittee F2, and I have come to appreciate his humble demeanor with in-depth expertise.  His quite superior "cool" appearance at some CIAM General Assembly was again and again very successful and sustainable for the captive pilots of the world.

 
 Thanks and good trip, Doc.

 Peter Germann, SUI
 Member CIAM Subcommission F2

 
 Mourning Address:
 Marie Jackson
 2601 Pennsylvania Avenue, Unit 906
 Philadelphia, PA 19130 USA

Online Tom_Fluker

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2019, 02:30:00 PM »
It is interesting to see how many lives Doc touched both personally and professionally.  There were times where he would tell us about his work.  It was amazing to me (especially at the time when he was pioneering genetics) that anyone could figure it out.  To this day, I wish I understood it.  He did a great job of simplifying the explanation, but it was clear that he functioned at a level so far above all of us.

Like Bob, I found that when needed, he magically appeared.  He did that for me in a way that I could never repay.  As with any championship, it takes a team.  Most people never knew that Doc played a key role in making the '82 combat team the success it was. 

Tom

Offline dale gleason

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2019, 07:37:56 PM »
I sat next to Doc Laird at an awards ceremony at the World's in Muncie in 2004. I hadn't met him before, but, we chatted a little about model planes in general. Hearing that I had had some difficulty with a spark ignition system, he produced his business card and on it drew me a little schematic of an electrical system that I might try.

Now, fifteen years later, upon hearing of his passing, I looked him up on the internet and, I suggest to others to do the same.

What an example of a life well lived!

dg

Offline Dan Bregar

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2020, 08:14:18 PM »
I only met Doc twice and that was enough to develop respect and admiration for him. He was a very smart man as his medical credentials do attest. Around 1973 he heard I was interested in FAI T/R. American interest in this event was minimal at the time and Doc was always trying to promote interest in FAI events and to encourage more participants. He gifted me with an almost complete ready to fly T/R airplane which I finished up pretty quickly and became an instant T/R pit man and competitor with the Pilot being Carl Dodge.
I never forgot his kindness generosity and encouragement. Thanks Doc for all you did to help other people.
AMA 33676

Offline Joe Gieseke

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #10 on: July 28, 2020, 10:21:02 AM »
Today is the first I have heard of the passing of Doc Jackson. It saddens me but his memory brings a smile to my heart.
Years ago after my mother passed away and we went to modeling events, Doc was the only person that I recall coming up to me personally to share condolences for my moms passing. This act of kindness has never left me and changed how I approach others when I hear of them loosing a family member. My first thoughts are,  where are the kids and I want to tell them I'm sorry for their lose.

A few years ago, ok more than a few, I contacted Doc just to say thanks  for that act kindness and let him know it changed me.

Thanks again Doc for the life lesson you provided me.

Joe Gieseke

Offline bob whitney

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Re: Laird 'Doc' Jackson
« Reply #11 on: July 28, 2020, 03:28:55 PM »
i met Doc at my first F2C trials in Calif ,He was head Juror and i was a rookie in every sense of the word .all i knew was that i could start a diesel and had a 600 gramm airplane
  on one of my first flights another plane ran through my lines and a wasn't able to finish the race. someones came to me and said i should file a protest.so up to the tower i go .Doc had seen what happend  but couldn't say anything ,they informed me it would cost $50 to file a protest and if i lost with it went the $50 .that was a lot of $$ back then  anyway Doc says very forsfully .are u going to protest or not ?? finally a say OK i protest and as i am pulling my $$ out of my pocket he says OK u get a re fly with a big smile .wish i could say it helped me but that year nothing would have helped .but i still remember that smile when i finally said OK
rad racer


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