Anyone familiar with Jones County knows that is seems there are too many Greenes and Jacksons here to count. In late June, the two names were ‘joined as one’ in a ceremony in Round Oak.
Fran Greene Collins became Fran Greene Jackson when she married Bart Jackson June 29 at Sunshine Church, culminating a relationship that began two years and a week before.
Bart, 65, and Fran, 63, have known each other a long time, both having grown up on Jones County farms and later participating in various activities in the community. There was one occasion, however, when the two went at it for several months.
When long-time Jones Superior Court Clerk Jack Roberts retired in 1988, Bart and Fran as well as Emily Roberts qualified for the seat.
Fran said Roberts wasted no time in her campaign.
“She started early, which put us having to start. When Bart and I would see each other, our tongues would be hanging out. We were so tired.”
“That was back when you went door to door,” Bart recalled. “You don’t see that these days.”
Despite her efforts, Roberts finished third but forced a runoff.
Bart, 29, was an insurance adjuster and parttime commissioner at the time, and Fran was an assistant clerk in the Baldwin County Superior Court Clerk’s office. The result of that skirmish was he picked up a new job with a 57-43 percent victory in the runoff, and she continued working in Baldwin County for a few more years at least.
Bart was re-elected seven times before deciding to retire in 2019. He appointed Pam Dixon to replace him, and she is the current Clerk of Superior Court.
“I retired to help my dad on the family farm,” Bart explained. “He had reached 80 years old, and there is a good bit of work to do out there.”
Fran, meanwhile, actually started out in that same office.
“I started part-time when I was 17,” she recalled. “Then I went full-time and worked here for a total of seven years.”
She then worked for a private law firm for about two years before moving on to Baldwin in 1986.
Fran stayed there until 1994, when she made a career change.
“I went back and got my teacher’s certificate, and I had to add some classes,” she said, noting that she worked initially in Adult Education two years before going to Dames Ferry. Except for two years she took off when her now adopted daughter Natalie came to live with her, Fran has been teaching since then, and she is about to begin her fifth year at Gray Station.
“My grandmother and mother were both teachers, aunts were teachers, and I swore I’d never teach,” Fran lamented. “But, when my daughter, Mary Frances, was born, I decided I didn’t want that 9 to 5 job. Now look at me. I’ve been teaching 28 years.”
Fran said she and Bart have always thought a lot of each other and worked on committees together. Bart decided to take the relationship further.
“The first date we had, the Isaacs, a gospel-blue grass group, were playing, and I had tickets to it,” he shared, “and I was looking for somebody to go with me.”
Bart said that was about five years ago, and Fran reminded him it was two years, June of 2022.
“It was a great concert,” he recalled, “then we went to Buckner’s and ate. It was good; we enjoyed it.”
The couple soon became ‘phone pals’.
“From then on, we talked two to three hours every night, friends,” Fran said. “I told him ‘when school starts I can’t talk this much every night’. We just kept on talking.
“We started going out once a week, and it just went from there,” she related. “I would say October (2022) we were a couple. We enjoyed each other’s company.”
Bart and Fran spent some serious time together for a short time in April of 2023 when they drove to Alaska to take her daughter’s vehicle there.
“It was 4,500 miles, nine days of traveling,” Bart said.
“It was a lot of fun,” Fran added. “We stayed about two hours ahead of a blizzard. Everybody kept saying ‘get out’.”
They did some sightseeing, and once there, enjoyed dogsledding.
“It was snowing in April,” Bart said. “That was a lot of fun.”
The couple went back to Alaska this past Christmas to see her daughter and went dogsledding again.
“It was at night, the moon was so beautiful. But it was minus 22 degrees, cold,” Fran said.
“It was so cold. I’ve never been that cold in my life,” Bart acknowledged.
That Christmas season is also when the decision to get married was made, but there is a question as to whether there was ever a proposal.
“I don’t think you ever asked me,” Fran told him during the interview for this story.
“We’re not sure about that,” Bart responded. “We just decided to get married.”
The couple explained that he gave her a ring, one of those box-in-a-boxin- a-box-in-a-box deals, and his son’s name was on it. She got the ring nonetheless.
“His daughter-in-law asked me did I say yes, and I said I don’t think he asked me. We got married anyway,” Fran said with a smile.
The couple, along with 14-year old Natalie, are living in his house on Jackson Road. Her house on Gordon Road is on the market.
How has married life been the first month?
“We had a lot of trepidation,” Bart admitted. “I’ve been single almost 35 years. And, she’s been single a good long while also. I’m set in my ways obviously, and I was worried about someone else being in the house. But, it’s worked out really good.”
Fran said, despite the caution, it hasn’t been difficult.
“Once we married, it’s like we’ve always been married. We were very hesitant, thinking ‘oh my gosh’. But, it’s been really very natural, like we...it was meant to be.
“Family is important to us,” she went on. “We do devotion every morning and night. We’re definitely on the same page.”
Bart mentioned the amount of time they spent together prior to the marriage.
“During that time, I think, the heavy discussions, we kind of worked through that. A lot of it got worked out. You don’t just go from living by yourself for over 30 years and mesh…I think it’s worked out over the two years we’ve dated. We put in some time then that’s paid off now.”
Fran agreed. “We laugh a lot, we joke a lot. It’s fun. We both like to read, and we both like history. And,” she threw in, “I like to sew, and he will still deer hunt, as he has done all his life.”
Fran is more than just a little interested in history, as she is a member of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Also, “I restored the birthplace of General Alfred Iverson in Clinton, where I lived for 22 years.”
They may just now be getting together officially, but Fran and Bart have a couple of connections from much earlier in life. In fact, they share a ‘grandfather’.
“My great, great-grandmother was a Jackson,” Fran pointed out. “We have the same great, great, great-grandfather.”
The two also lived in the same house in Clinton—at the same time of their lives, but not at the same time. Bart recalled how and when he moved there.
“My mother and dad rented a house in Clinton when they were just married before they built the house on Jackson Road. That’s where I lived when I came home from the hospital.”
The family moved within a couple of years.
Fran’s story was identical.
“I lived in that same house. The day my parents moved there, my mother went into labor with me.”
“You moved into my house,” Bart joked. “Again, now,” she answered with a smile.
That second house is now their home, and they are comfortable with that and their life.
“Family is important to both of us. They have been very supportive,” Bart noted, then said with conviction, “Our faith is strong. I think that is the biggest thing for us.”
