Remembering John Guy Jackson, Jr.

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — John Guy Jackson, Jr., known more familiarly as Guy, was born in Macon, Ga., on November 26, 1931, to John Guy Jackson, Sr., and Ruth Beeland Jackson.  He was a lifelong member of the Methodist Church, confirmed in 1939. Jackson achieved the honor of Eagle Scout in 1945. He obtained a bachelor and master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a PhD from the University of Michigan.

He served on active duty with the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps from 1954 to 1957 and was honorably discharged from the Naval Reserve as a Lieutenant Commander in 1972. Guy moved to Meridian, MS, in 1958 as a construction engineer for a Memphis contractor, where he met and married Elizabeth Lampkin, an elementary school teacher from Starkville, Miss. They moved to Vicksburg in 1960 where he was employed as a research engineer at Waterways Experiment Station (WES). He retired as Chief of Geomechanics Division of the Structures Laboratory in 1993 and worked as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense until 2000. 

Jackson received a Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service from the Secretary of Defense and was inducted into the WES Gallery of Distinguished Civilian Employees, and honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Defense Special Weapons Agency. 

Jackson was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, William Jackson; and his wife of 40 years, Elizabeth Lampkin Jackson. He is survived by three children, Janet Jackson Hindman (Mitchell), John Beeland Jackson (Charlotte), and Louise Jackson Dove (Mark).  He leaves behind ten grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. 

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, at Glenwood Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until the hour of the service.  Burial will follow in Greenlawn Gardens Cemetery,

Donations in memory of Guy Jackson can be directed to the Good Shepherd Community Center, the Mississippi Methodist Senior Services (Sunday fund), and to Hawkins United Methodist Church.