Funds honor slain trio

Two memorial funds have been set up to remember James “Clark” Jackson, his wife, Karen Lee Jackson, and her daughter, Chante Davis, the victims of the February 2011 triple homicide in Madison County.

The family lived on Bill and Lindy Sanford’s 1,300-acre Arrowpoint Farm in southeast Madison County. The couple had worked on the farm for the last 17 years, with Clark Jackson managing its day-to-day operations, in particular its 250-head angus-mix cattle herd. Karen Jackson worked with the cattle occasionally and helped with the horses.

Lindy Sanford is organizing the memorial funds to try and turn something tragic into a something hopeful, she said.

“I got to do something positive,” Lindy Sanford said.

She added, “You don’t realize how much someone does for your until they are not there to do it. They did everything for us and we miss them terribly on a daily basis.”

Her husband Bill agrees. “We are trying to make something positive out of a big negative event.”

The first memorial fund is the Jackson Family Educational Fund.

“They loved their grandchildren. They were with them all the time. There was always a grandchild here,” Lindy Sanford said.

The contributions to this fund will be used to secure the further education of the Jacksons’ grandchildren. This fund is not tax-deductible since it goes specifically to the grandchildren.

The grandchildren include Kamaya Davis, 10, of Orange, Kamryn Davis, 8, of Orange, Tiona Davis, 8, of Orange, Devron Carter, 8, of Orange, Jayden Henderson, 4, of Albemarle County, James Davis, 6 months old, of Orange.

“It’s for their further education after high school. It doesn’t matter if it is beautician school, technical school, college,” Lindy Sanford said.

So far, they have generated $9,780. The group that is overseeing the educational fund is Lindy Sanford, Anna Maria Dowen, Sallie Outten, family member Shirley Ragland and family member Francis Poindexter.

“It will be up to the five of us to divide the funds,” Lindy Sanford said.

If you would like to make a gift in memory of Clark and Karen, make checks payable to: Jackson Educational Trust Fund, C/O Lindy Sanford, 1570 Forest Drive, Orange, VA 22960. For information, contact jacksonfund@gmail.com.

The second fund is a Jackson/Davis Fund for the Boys and Girls Club. Since most of the grandchildren live in Orange, they attend the Orange Boys and Girls Club.

However, 100 percent of the donations will go toward the Madison Club.

“The kids absolutely love it. They think it’s just wonderful. They said they want to go on Saturday they’ve had such a good time,” Lindy Sanford said.

Currently, Madison County have more than 300 children enrolled, serving more than 60 children grades third through ninth each day. 

The Madison County Boys and Girls Club, now based at Waverly Yowell Elementary School, provides a healthy place for children to stay, making it easy for parents who are not in the home after school or have to work later hours.

The contributions to this fund will help the Madison County Boys and Girls Club serve more children and teens, expand the grade levels beyond third through ninth grade, offer scholarships for children who would like to enroll in the program, which is $35 per year.

The fund has already generated more than $1,425, Lindy Sanford said.

If you would like to make a gift in memory of the family, please mail and make check payable to: Boys and Girls Club of Madison County (Memo: Jackson/David Fund), P.O Box 707 Charlottesville, VA 22902.

“Every time I get sad, I think about these funds and trying to do something positive because there is nothing else to do about it now,” Lindy Sanford said.

Sarah Ridgeway of Boston, Va., a friend of the victims, helped the Sanfords start up a Facebook page called the Jackson/Davis Memorial Funds. If you are unable to find it by using the search tool, you can type in www.facebook.com/#!/pages/JacksonDavis-Memorial-Funds/133807693391201.

“Every time I go in the barn, I get a little choked up. I miss that warm feeling of Karen being there and Clark too,” Ridgeway said.

One story they love about Karen is she raised a calf named Rosie who is now 13 years old. Rosie was diagnosed with mastitis, a disease cattle gets in their udders. On Mother’s Day 2011 she delivered triplets, which is extremely rare, and she has raised all three bull male calves. Since they were all born as bull calves, now steers, we named them James, Clark and Jackson after Clark Jackson.

“It was a good sign,” Ridgeway said.

James Clark Jackson, known as Clark to his friends, 54, his wife Karen Lee Davis Jackson, 53, and her daughter Chante Latrice Davis, 26, were found dead in February 2011. The father was lying in the family’s yard, shot to death. The two women were found inside the family’s farmhouse off Forest Drive (Route 671), a little more than a mile east of James Madison Highway (U.S. 15). All three were apparently shot and had wounds to their upper body.

The man accused for the triple homicide is Clark Jackson’s nephew, Rashad Matthew Riddick, 23, of Newport News. The preliminary hearing date is set for 1 p.m. at Jan. 20 in the General District Court in Madison County.

“It’s such a shame that such good people had to come to such a tragic end,” Lindy Sanford said.