Anita Jackman was born on May 26, 1927, the second daughter born to Earl Wright and Lillie (Rutledge) Jackman in Green County, Arkansas near the town of Marmaduke. Older sister, Madonna died as a baby when Lillie was sick with malaria. Two other children were added to their family, Max in 1929 and Glen in 1932. She was the great granddaughter of Green County pioneer, Hezekiah Wright.
Anita was raised on the family farm and attended local schools and graduated from Marmaduke High School in 1945. After graduation she worked in Washington, DC. She was in the Captiol at the end of World War II and was among the happy excited crowd that flooded the streets when the noel’s of the end of the war was announced.
Also in 1945, she married Marvin McAbee, a local boy, who had served n the Navy during the war in the South Pacific. In the spring of 1949, Marvin and Anita were baptized into Christ and she was a dedicated Christian for the rest of her life. During this marriage, two daughter were born, Trena in 1947 and Sherry in 1950. The family moved back and forth between Arkansas, Michigan and California until 1957, where they settled in the Imperial Valley, California.
The marriage to Marvin ended in 1960 and for the next 11 years Anita worked as a bookkeeper for the Imperial Valley Irrigation District and raised her daughters.
After her girls were grown and married, Anita was reunited with a childhood friend from Marmaduke. She married widower, Don Huckabay in 1972 and moved to Dinuba, California. They lived on a farm and planted almond trees. In this marriage, Anita was blessed with two more children, Ronnie and Mona. Unfortunately after 3 years of this special relationship, Don was killed in a tractor accident.
Anita lived in Dinuba, California for 24 years until 1999 when she moved to Cabool with her daughter, Sherry and husband, Butch Evans. She was a resident of Pineview Heights and Landmark Villa until illness made it necessary for her to move to Kabul Nursing Home in October 2021. After surviving 2 bouts with Covid-19 and a broken femur during the passed year, Anita went home to be with her Lord at 8:30am on October 28, 2022.
Anita was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Max Jackman and her husband, Don Huckabay. She is survived by her four children, Trena Hettinger and husband, Tom of Ramona, CA, Sherry Evans and husband, Butch of Elk Creek, MO, Ronnie Huckabay and wife, Sawney of Muskogee, OK and Mona Carper and husband, Jim of Collinsville, OK; grandchildren, Aaron Evans, Jennifer Kerr, Mitchell Hettinger, Gena Huckabay, Stacie Huckabay, Carla Pierce, Johanna Richardson, Kari Carper and Ken Carper; 16 great grandchildren and 13 great great grandchildren
