If you were on Route No. 109, Troy Jackson Sr. did his best to get you your RDN
By Stephen E. Sowers
Published: Wednesday, October 3, 2007 11:28 PM CDT
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Troy Jackson Sr., who delivered the RDN for nearly two decades, died on Tuesday. As you can tell by this photograph, Troy’s grandchildren were a big part of his life.
Without dependable route drivers and youth carriers, our newspaper is not worth the paper it is printed on.

Fortunately, over the years our group of drivers and carriers has done an outstanding job of getting you your copy of the Rolla Daily News News six days a week.

Troy Jackson Sr. was definitely one of the best. Unless terrible weather intervened, Troy Sr. picked up his newspapers every day and ran his route, No. 109 in east Rolla. That was in addition to the maintenance job he held at the University of Missouri-Rolla.


Troy Sr. had 469 customers on his route. We were late getting around to all 469 of you on Wednesday because of Troy Sr.’s death from ALS on Tuesday night. As most of you know, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is an incurable disease of the central nervous system. At the end, a person loses all muscle control and needs round-the-clock assistance.

Troy Sr. vowed to carry on despite his illness. Until about six weeks ago, Troy Sr. was still delivering RDN Route 109. From the RDN, Troy Sr. would head east out Tenth Street and Soest Road and service all the areas along either side of both roads. The route concluded with deliveries in the several subdivisions around Oak Meadow Country Club.

Since sometime in August, Troy Sr.’s wife, Sue Jackson, delivered the route. In the past, Troy Sr.’s son, Troy Lee Jackson, another RDN route driver, helped with his dad’s route.



Our home is on Route 109. I figured correctly yesterday when our newspaper had not arrived by 8 a.m. that Troy Sr. had died, and Sue was unable to deliver the route. By later in the day, Circulation Manager Kelli Wallis had lined up Gloria Weaver to fill in for Sue and most, if not all of you, received your Wednesday RDN.

We anticipate that Sue will be back on Route 109 in the very near future.

That is good news because, like her late husband, Sue Jackson is well aware of the importance of delivering the RDN to all 469 subscribers on Route 109 no matter the varying circumstances each day brings.

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