Jackson thrived in moment

Editor's note: Noted local performer Doug Jackson's funeral was Sunday.

Doug Jackson will be late for his funeral. Seriously … Doug will be late. And then when he does show up, after everyone else has been worrying and working and rehearsing and learning their lines … Doug will saunter in, and stop to talk to, and charm, every woman along the way. And after this flagrant act of irresponsibility … Doug will find his light, pick up the microphone, smile at everyone, and with every word to every song perfectly memorized and perfectly annunciated and inflected … he will control the room. And everyone will love Doug.

For many years, Doug was a frequent special guest with Liars Holographic Radio Theatre, and at some point in the late '90s, I gave him the stage name, 'The Right Reverend Douglas Q. Jackson.” He was simply too large a personality for a standard name.

And Doug's was the most universal of churches. Talk about non-denominational. Doug embraced and loved everyone. Every person in the audience, was a guest, was a member of his church. You didn't have to join; you were just in it. No one passed the plate, but Doug's church was one of pure giving. He gave and we received. The more he gave, the more he seemed to have to give. Giving and receiving appeared to be interchangeable with Doug.

He was a great singer, too. But Doug was also a great actor. Whether playing Maurice, the maitre d' in 'Family Style Dining at the Ox Yoke Inn,” or reciting a poem by Robert Service, when Doug was onstage with Liars Theatre, he carried his weight. He always understood 'the moment.”

There's a time for 'funny” and there's a time for 'serious.” And although, at Liars Theatre, they were used in service to the same end, Doug never wavered between the two. He knew what he was doing.

There are numerous performances of Doug's that will resonate forever, but it was the day of my father's funeral, in 2001, when he sang 'His Eye is on the Sparrow,” that will leave me forever in Doug's debt. Bridging the divide, that day, between the spirit world and the physical world, The Right Reverend Douglas Q. Jackson lifted us up. He looked at my mother while he sang, and helped her understand, as he helped the entire room understand, that she would be OK. That we would all be OK. We would be OK because someone was looking out for us. Of course, that someone was late arriving to sing for the funeral, but it didn't seem to bother anybody. And it certainly didn't seem to bother him, as he strolled down the center aisle of the chapel, smiling and saying hello to everyone in attendance … while lavishing a bit of special attention on each of the women.

' Craig Campbell is co-owner of Campbell Steele Gallery, Marion. Comments: craig@campbellsteele.com