The Islander is a free weekly community newspaper serving Anna Maria Island. There is no charge for our standard obituary, including survivors, services, photo and other lifetime information for present and former residents of Anna Maria Island and people with affiliations on Anna Maria Island.
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— Bonner Joy, Publisher. news@islander.org
Jack P. Jackson
Jack Paul Jackson, 95, of Bradenton, died June 14.
Mr. Jackson and longtime companion, Peggy, held the contract for the Holmes Beach Post Office in the S&S Plaza on Gulf Drive and operated the office for 21 years.
He also ran a sign shop in the back of the store, where he worked with his Shar Peis at his side.
He was a proud Korean War veteran. And before operating the post office had a career in heavy construction.
He built dams on the Missouri River in South Dakota, missile sites in Wyoming and Nebraska, highways in California and Illinois, among many projects. He also was involved in dredging a submarine base in Georgia and a channel into Tampa Bay.
He was known as a “Jack of all trades” who could fix and build anything.
Services were private.
Mr. Jackson is survived by “the love of his life” for 37 years, Peggy; daughter Jill and husband Mark Williams; son Jay, owner of a sign shop on Manatee Avenue; grandchildren Angela and husband Kyle Butler and JD and wife Alyssa; great-grandchildren Charlotte, Jack, Luke, Henry and Wallace; sister Debbie; and cousins Rachel and Tim.
John Claude Polking
John Claude Polking, Rice University professor emeritus of mathematics, 93, died June 28 on Anna Maria Island.
He was born June 6, 1934, and grew up on his grandfather’s farm near the town of Breda, Iowa, where he treasured the farm’s history.
He leaves behind a distinguished career in academia spanning more than five decades and a trail of devoted family and friends.
From his roots on the family farm to a prominent position at Rice University and years of traveling the world to teach and explore, he was a lifelong learner whose curiosity, persistence and attention to detail never waned.
He received his bachelor of science in physics from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where he graduated magna cum laude. He served in the U.S. Navy 1956-59 before attending graduate school at the University of Chicago, where he earned his doctorate.
Mr. Polking’s academic career began at Brandeis University in 1966. He was a professor 1968-04 at Rice University in Houston, where he retained his rank of professor emeritus and continued to teach a course each spring.
He was involved with the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, the International Association of Mathematical Physics and the IAS/Park City Mathematics Institute.
He met the love of his life, Stevie Coppin, while touring Turkey in 2012 at the age of 78. They wed in 2016 and took up residences on Anna Maria Island and in Knokke, Belgium.
A celebration of life will take place on AMI in the fall.
Mr. Polking is survived by his beloved wife, Agnes “Stevie” Coppin-Polking and her three children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, as well as nieces and nephews across the country.