Rev. Stellie James Jackson, 92, of Clover, SC, exchanged time for eternity on Saturday, February 1, 2025.

Rev. Jackson’s funeral service will be 12:00 p.m. Saturday, February 8, 2025 at the St. Stephens A.M.E. Zion Church, 201 W. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia, NC with the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Dewberry officiating.  The family will receive friends from 10:00 am to 11:30 am Saturday morning before the service at the Church.   Interment will be in the Green Pond United Methodist Church Cemetery, Clover, SC.

A lifelong resident of Clover, S.C., Rev. Jackson was born on February 25, 1932, to the late Johnnie I. Jackson and Effie Gustina Jackson. In 1952, he married his grade school sweetheart, Mary Jane Rollison. Their union was blessed with three children and 72 years of wedded bliss until her recent passing on January 10, 2025.

Rev. Jackson graduated at the top of the Roosevelt School Class of 1950. Later in life, he continued his education at York Technical College in Rock Hill, SC. His additional studies included management training (ICAM), United Methodist Church Local Preacher Licensing School (Columbia College, Columbia, SC), clinical pastoral counseling education (Gaston Memorial Hospital), and Black Ethnic Pastoral Continuing Education (Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC).

After high school graduation, Rev. Jackson chose to remain in Clover to help his parents manage the family farm while his siblings pursued time in higher education and the military. His career path eventually veered from the farm and into positions within the textile and supply industries before gaining employment with the U.S. Postal Service - a career he cultivated for 28 years until he retired as postmaster of the Beatties Ford Road branch in 1991.

Rev. Jackson was devoted to his family – a constant only surpassed by his devotion to God. From infancy, he was a member of Green Pond United Methodist Church in Clover, SC, where he served as a Sunday school teacher, choir member, church treasurer, lay speaker and local preacher. Eventually, the divine calling he had tried to repress for years was finally too much to ignore, and in 1983, he moved his membership to St. Stephens African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church in Gastonia, N.C., to pursue ministry on a full-time basis. In 1984, the North Carolina Annual Conference of the A.M.E. Zion Church ordained Rev. Jackson as an elder and appointed him to serve at Bynum Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church in Kings Mountain, N.C. He served Bynum Chapel until 1998 when he was appointed Presiding Elder of the Lincolnton District of the A.M.E. Zion Church. He continued in that capacity until he retired from the ministry in 2006.

While caring for the wellbeing of his family and church family, Rev. Jackson felt the need to give more to his community by seeking a term with the Clover School District Board of Education. He was the first African American member of the board and provided representation for portions of the community that had previously felt overlooked. While a member of the board, he served on the building committee that oversaw the construction of Bethany Elementary, Griggs Road Elementary, Clover Junior High, and the Clover School District Auditorium. Rev. Jackson also served as vice-chair of the board during two years of his final term.

His other community involvements included being a member of several civic organizations, such as the United Men's Club of Clover, an organization that concerns itself with the improvement of community life in Clover. He served as president of the club for several terms, and he was the organization's Man-of-the-Year on two occasions. He also served as the treasurer. Additionally, he was a member of the Olive Branch Masonic Lodge and served as the Worshipful Master and later as their treasurer. Rev. Jackson was also a life member of the NAACP and received the Award of Merit from Las Amigas, Inc., as well as numerous other civic recognitions.

Later in life, he became a member of the Roosevelt Community Watch, where he helped the organization administer scholarships to graduating seniors at Clover High School. His involvement with Roosevelt Community Watch and its initiation of an after-school tutorial program led to collaborations with the Clover School District, the YMCA, and the Town of Clover; all of which eventually culminated in a center named in his honor - the Stellie J. Jackson Enrichment Center - where he served as an operating board member.

Through a life of service to God, family and community, Rev. Stellie J. Jackson lived abundantly. Just like the nourishing harvests he cultivated on the family farm as a young man, the harvests of his life’s journey nourishes generations – past, present and future. The seeds of his crop are spread in the hearts of all those he impacted, and those hearts are where his legacy will continue to thrive.

He was preceded in death by four grandchildren, as well as a son-in-love. He is survived by daughters Diana J. Currence (C. Stanley) of Clover, SC; Sherry J. Butler (Nathaniel [deceased]) of Midland, MI; son James R. Jackson (Phyllis) of Fort Worth, TX; five grandsons, four great-granddaughters; and a host of family members and friends.

Memorial donations may be made to St. Stephens A.M.E. Zion Church, 201 W. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia, NC 28052 or the Stellie J. Jackson Enrichment Center, Attn: George Smith, P.O. Box 81, Clover, SC 29710.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.