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Jack Preston Campbell
(Last Updated Apr 25, 2011)
Jack was born in Kansas City, MO in 1931 and was the only child of Jack P. and Frances C. Campbell. As the son of a regular army officer, Jack spent his youth moving around the country. In 1949 he graduated from Forest Park High School in Baltimore, MD. When it came time for college he tried Northwestern University for two years. Deciding that was not the route he wanted to follow, he then chose his father’s profession and attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY. He graduated in 1955, married Paula Ann Waggett and accepted a commission in the Corps of Engineers.
Over the course of his 26 year military career Paula and Jack had and raised five children. Jack served tours in Germany, Korea and Viet Nam, in Washington, DC, at West Point, and many other locations in the U.S. He earned two advanced degrees, one from Texas A&M and one from RPI in Troy, NY. Jack retired as a Colonel at Ft Sheridan, IL in October 1981.
Upon retirement from the Army the Campbells moved to the great state of Texas. Jack worked as the Director of Port Development for the Port of Brownsville in the Rio Grande Valley and then in 1991 he and Paula moved to Austin where he reported directly to the Governor of Texas. He served under both Ann Richards and George W Bush as their Director of Business Development. Jack retired from state government in 1997 and the Campbells selected to remain in Austin, TX and make it their retirement home.
Gardening, reading, computing and traveling keep the Campbells busy and entertained. Jack loves the West Point Class of ’55 and is active in class business and activities. He is pleased that he was elected to serve as a class officer.
In the civilian world, Jack got involved in many community activities. He was a founding member of the Adult Literacy Center in Brownsville, the Rio Grande Marine Institute, and the Brownsville Economic Development Foundation. He was an active member of a number of social organizations including The Rotary Club, The West Point Society of Central Texas, the UT Club, and the West Point Class of 55 Travel Club. He served as the Information Services Officer for the West Point Class of 1955 from March of 2009 thru May 2015.
Jack and Paula’s have two daughter, three sons, five grand-children, and five great grand- children. The girls (Anne and Mary Frances) and their husbands (Fred Cicero and Chris Chandler) live in Little Rock AK and New Hartford, CT, and all three sons (John, Paul and Andy) and their wives (Stacey, Sherry and Kelly) live in Austin.
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TAPS Check List
1. Birthplace and date - Kansas City, MO 28 Dec 1931
2. Parents names - Jack P. Campbell and Frances Cotham Campbell
3. No. of siblings - Only Child
4. High school graduated from (plus info like class officer, etc.) - Forest Park HS, Baltimore, MD, Jun 1949. Judge on Student Court, VP Leader’s Club
5. High school sports (what sport, position, team Captain, honors) - None
6. Other High school activities (Band, Honor Society, etc.) - Nat’l Honor Society
7. Non-school activities (e.g., Scouts, Church etc.) - First Christian Church CYO and Bean Club
8. Civilian College and/or Military Academy Prep School - Northwestern University Sep49-Jun51; Texas A&M 59-60 MEng; RPI 60-61 MS Math & PHDER Engr
9. Civilian College sports - None
10. Prior military service, branch and rank - None
11. Type of appointment to USMA - Qualified Alt, 10th Dist MO
12. USMA Roommates - Tom Craven and Art Follett (for most of time); Billy Chance, Dumbo Millar, Pete Vann (semester each)
13. Close friends at USMA - Tom, Art, Billy Chance
14. Wife info, including how you met and place of marriage - Paula Ann Waggett, Jun 8, 1955 at West Point Catholic Chapel; (see PWP)
15. Children info - Two girls and three boys (see PWP)
16. Suggested and/or preferred author for TAPS article - Dienst or McKinney or Kennebeck; (see PWP for bio)
17. Others who can fill in gaps about you - Paula
18. Classmates with whom you served - McKinney, Guthrie, Sanderson, Warner, McCloskey
19. Major military assignments, if not listed in Register - (see Register and PWP)
20. Second career info - Texas State Government (see PWP)
Jack Campbell
April 2011
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How I got my appointment to West Point
I wanted to go to West Point from the time I was a freshman in High School. Being a Brat, we moved a lot and didn't have any ties with a congressman or Senator. I graduated HS in Baltimore in 1949 and had my application in well in advance. Took all the tests and actually received a 2nd Alt appointment from a Missouri congressman for the Class of 53. I had made myself a legal resident of MO because that was my Dad's legal residence and I happened to be born there.
I didn't get in so I entered Northwestern and applied again for the Class of 54 only to end up again as a qualified 2nd Alt from the 10th Dist of MO and from Illinois. Same thing again for the Class of '55, but made 1st Alt this time. When I heard nothing, I entered summer school at Northwestern and pretty much gave up the ghost.
Then on the last day of June one of my dad's old Army buddies stopped by the Chicago District Office (Corps of Engineers) to pay him a visit. He asked about me and when my Dad said I was a student at Northwestern he asked why I didn't go to West Point. My Dad explained my attempts and said I was a Qualified Alternate, but had received no principal appointment. Dad's buddy said, "Let me make a call" and went to the phone. When he returned he said, "Yank Jack out of NU and get him on a plane to WP as soon as possible and he can enter with the Class of '55".
My Dad did just that and never stopped thanking his old Army buddy, Maxwell Taylor, for making that phone call. The rest is history. Just goes to prove that it doesn't hurt to know someone. And that's how I got there!
Funny thing is that midway through Plebe year I received a letter from Sen Dirkson's office saying I had a principal appointment for the Class of '56.
Carry on...
~jack
Jack Campbell
27 July 2010
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What Have Your Kids Done?
Paula and I are lucky (I guess) in that we have five children. Two girls and three boys. The boys have all moved to Austin since we set up house keeping here so that makes us feel pretty good. Let me briefly talk about each one, going from oldest to youngest.
Anne. She set the example for her sibs of what not to do and that was probably a good thing. She dropped out of HS, got married and had a baby. That soon fell apart so she got divorced, moved in with us, got her GED and found another "bad boy" to fix. They married, had a baby and lived happily ever after for almost two years. She divorced old number two and moved to our empty house (the old homestead) in Arkansas with her two kids. She went back to school and became a med-tech and then found the charm and married again. That one seems to have taken! Anne and Fred live a happy life in Little Rock bouncing between their home and their lake house. Anne is now the nurse to a successful doctor and is a very happy camper. Her daughter and four kids live nearby and her son is in the Air Force. He is stationed in Neb (Crew Chief on AF 2), but will soon be transferred to Little Rock AFB.
Miffy. Mary Frances learned from her sister and sailed thru HS and college in Virginia. She followed her college sweetheart to CT, married him, and has been there ever since. It's a great place for us to visit. She and Chris have a nice life and live in a home built in the early 1800s. Sadly they have no children, but they both have good jobs, are stanch conservatives, and have a cat. Mif visits Texas at least once a year and we visit CT at least twice a year.
John. The oldest boy was an excellent student and as far as Paula and I know never got into any trouble. He received appointments to both WP and the AF Acdy and selected to attend the latter. He flunked his flight physical and then resigned three months before graduation. He wrote a letter to the Sec AF, got excused from his service obligation, and entered Texas A&M. He earned a BS in Engineering and an MBA in something. A few years back he went to work for TXDOT and moved to Austin. He is now the Dir of Right of Ways for the State and spends most of his time traveling around the world for the State of Texas. He and Stacey (her family was a neighbor of ours in Brownsville) have one son.
Paul. The middle son that never did anything wrong. Graduated from college in four years, got married and had a son, who is just starting college. Paul started his career in Television news in Little Rock. His beat was to cover the governor (Bill Clinton). After becoming news director for his TV station he decided to leave TV and move to Austin. He decided to put his MBA (Finance) to work and took a gob with the State Comptroller. He now works for TXDOT as Dir of Finance (Payments) and his wife Sherry is a school teacher.
Andy. Our accident prone baby. He has been run over by a garbage truck , struck by lightning, had colon cancer and many minor broken bones, cuts and bruises. He just ran and finished the Texas Triathlon, so he is doing okay. He married the daughter of the mayor of South Padre Island and after graduating from UT works for the Texas Research Center, doing secret work for the US Navy. He and Kelly have one little girl who was born deaf. She has two cochlear implants and speaks clearly as well as signing as fast as lightning. She is four.
Our kids enjoy each other and love to visit us. That makes us very very happy. Having three in-town grand-kids is pretty good too. As I said, Paula and I are very lucky!
Carry on... ~jack
31 AUG 2010
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HOW I MET THAT SPECIAL HER
(Last Updated Apr 26, 2011)
It was exam week at Northwestern in 1950 and all my exams were scheduled for the first three days. That meant I had a couple of days off after exams to celebrate and kick up my heals. My room-mate and I decided to spend those few days roughing it in the woods of Starved Rock State Park. We invited another freshman to go with us because he had a car that worked. Sadly, I don’t remember his name.
We made it down to Utica, Illinois in the late afternoon and decided to get a motel instead of setting up a camp in the woods that first night. Early the next morning we set out to explore the park and maybe find a nice camp site. Our hike through the woods was exhausting so we decided to spend another night in the motel.
After a light meal I said, "Why don’t we see if we can meet some girls instead of just hanging out in this crumby motel". My room-mate, Fred Buck, said, "I know a girl in Spring Valley that I can call." That’s all it took and the hunt was on. He called Paula Waggett who he knew from her summer visits to her Uncle’s house in Waukegan, Fred’s home town.
We struck gold as Paula was about to leave her house with two girl friends to see a movie. Fred told her to hang tight and we’d be by to pick them up. We raced to Spring Valley and picked up Paula, Red Betty and Black Betty and loaded into the car. Fred was in front with the driver and I sat in back between two girls and with the third on my lap.
At the theater (I wonder what we saw) I ended up between Paula and my "date". Paula later claimed she thought I was a smart alack, but she laughed at my jokes and we chatted enough that we were shushed more than once by people behind us. After the movie we went to the Lodge at Starved Rock for drinks and fun. By the time we took the girls back home, I had Paula’s phone number tucked away in my wallet for future reference.
As luck would have it, I went with my Dad the following week to inspect the Starved Rock lock and Dam (He was the Chicago District Engineer) and was able to renew my acquaintance with Miss Paula. The week after that visit I started my Northwestern Co-op Quarter in Peoria and began weekly drives to Spring Valley to date Paula or visit with her mother. And so began a long off and on courtship spanning four years at West Point that ended in marriage in June 1955. Our adventures and struggles during those four years is a story for another day. The rest is history.
Jack Cambbell
26 April 2011
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