One of the treasured girlhood memories of Jefferson County Judge/Executive Rebecca Jackson '73E, '77G is listening to her mother talk about roller-skating in the Speed Art Museum parking lot at the edge of Belknap Campus. Whenever she and her friends wanted to see the art exhibits, "Mrs. Speed told the guards to watch our skates," her mom would say.

Despite her lifelong love for the museum and U of L, Jackson began her college career at Western Kentucky University. She left after her sophomore year to marry Ralph Jackson and move to Edwards Air Force Base. When they returned to Louisville, Jackson's life had changed. "I was a wife, a mother, a dog owner, and a homeowner," she recalls with a characteristic smile and chuckle.

Believing a degree unnecessary at that point, Jackson went on the "interview circuit" but was told she had too much or too little college for positions she applied for. She then enrolled at U of L, determined to finish two years of classes in three semesters. Her adviser thought her plan ill-advised and initially refused her request to take 18 credit hours.

"I'm a woman in a hurry," she insisted. The adviser eventually relented and Jackson earned a 4.0 grade point average that semester, later graduating magna cum laude on her schedule, not his. The experience taught her that "it's up to you to challenge others, and sometimes you have to fight for what you want."

While pursuing her master's degree, Jackson was awarded a graduate assistantship; she continues to value and use the research skills she acquired then.

Jackson's degrees led to teaching and administrative positions for the Jefferson County Public Schools, where she found herself drawn to special education students. Disturbed that most were "graduating to TV sets, not jobs," she left the school system to found JobCenter, Inc., an employment agency for individuals with disabilities.

Her clients kept encountering bureaucratic rules that made no sense. A "complainfest" with friends convinced Jackson that it was her responsibility to try to make sense of government‹or at least part of it. While working with her state senator, she mentioned that "someday" she might like to run for office. Someday came in 1989 when she was asked to consider the race for Jefferson County clerk.

Using her signature "can-do" attitude, a manual from the Republican National Committee, and $12,000, she beat the Democratic incumbent in a county where twice as many Democrats as Republicans are registered. She was re-elected in 1993 for a term that ended in 1998.

Jackson wasn't certain she wanted to run for county judge/executive, but "I believed I could do the job." Not only is she doing the job, she is the first woman to do so and the first Republican in the post since 1984.

As a girl, Jackson expected to be a nurse, teacher, or secretary. "I never dreamed I would be in government," she recalls.

That's quite a statement for someone who has received numerous awards while in office, including being chosen last year as the Public Official of the Year by the National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials & Clerks.

Of the challenge to lead the state's most populous county into the coming millennium, Jackson smiles and says, "It's a critical time, an exciting time, a can-do time."

Louisville Mayor Dave Armstrong '69L was exposed to politics on a daily basis decades before he was elected to public office.

His maternal grandfather was an alderman in Hope, Arkansas, where Armstrong, like fellow Democrat Bill Clinton, was born. A "true raconteur", he wore a straw hat, carried a cane, and ran the train depot. It was he who kindled Armstrong's interest in local politics.

Armstrong learned about national issues from his father, who "always talked politics at dinner."

Although his family moved to Madison, Indiana, when Armstrong was six, his exposure to Kentucky politics did not occur until he was a young man chosen to work alongside the legendary Edward F. Prichard, Jr. and Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt, who were studying possible revisions to the state constitution.

Law school was a logical next step after Armstrong earned a bachelor's degree from Murray State University. He had no trouble choosing U of L over the other schools that accepted his application.

"They seemed to care about the students," Armstrong says of U of L's School of Law. Before he enrolled, both the current and former deans met with him to tell him about the school, a courtesy which still impresses him.

Meanwhile, his wife, Carol Burress Armstrong, was offered a job at Norton Hospital, where she had completed her nurse's training. In 1966 the couple moved to Louisville and bought a home in the Seneca Park neighborhood, where they still reside.

As a first-year law student Armstrong received a work scholarship as an assistant librarian, a position he kept all through law school. He also found time to represent the school in the Student Senate and to serve as president of his legal fraternity, Delta Theta Phi, which recently honored him by creating a public service award in his name.

Armstrong has now spent three decades as a public servant. His first job out of law school was as an assistant police court prosecutor. Two years later he became a juvenile court judge and, two years after that, an administrative law judge.

He was twice elected Jefferson County commonwealth attorney, serving from 1975 through 1983, when he was elected Kentucky attorney general, a post he held through 1988. Within two years Jefferson County reclaimed Armstrong, twice electing him to serve as county judge/executive.

Known as low-key but principled and persistent, his most visible achievement as county judge is the new $47 million Judicial Center, a court complex that Armstrong says is a national model. His work on Cornerstone 2020, a comprehensive land-use plan for orderly growth into the next century, has been praised by Vice President Al Gore.

Despite his work on these countywide projects, Armstrong believes "the city is truly the heart of the community." He hopes to draw people back to the city by developing its core into a cultural center.

Looking forward to leading the city into the 21st century, this successful U of L graduate says he hopes "to be the best mayor Louisville has ever had."

The Courier Journal

A unique trio was in the spotlight on January 4 when U of L President John Shumaker presided over the first joint inaugural for a Louisville mayor and Jefferson County judge/executive. Both officials are U of L graduates.

Rebecca Jackson '73E, '77G became the chief executive of Jefferson County following nine years as county clerk. Dave Armstrong '69L concluded nine years as county judge/executive with a move to the mayor's office, his "life's goal."

Armstrong, who proposed the joint ceremony and invited Shumaker to officiate, believes "an era of collaboration is coming." Indeed, unity and cooperation are clear themes of both the city and county administrations.

Likewise, the new mayor and county judge agree that the university is of pivotal importance to the community's future. Both would like to see U of L develop an institute to train future local government leaders.

Jackson believes the university's biomedical research focus will attract people in a "whole different way." She also lauds U of L's entrepreneurial education and maintains that the community can "grow its own Fortune 500 companies."

Armstrong, too, sees education and economic development as inextricably linked. Working closely with the university is "the natural thing" for local government to do, he says. He immediately accepted when Shumaker, whom he calls an innovator, recently invited him to chair the Health Sciences Park Development Board.

Shumaker agrees with Jackson and Armstrong that collaboration will benefit the community at large. At the inaugural, he offered the two leaders "our full support, our cooperation, our energies, and good will and civility as they lead our common efforts to move our city and county forward boldly into the new millennium."

One would not expect Jackson and Armstrong to agree on everything‹and they don't. A particularly controversial issue is the reorganization and potential merger of city and county government and the two police departments.

Jackson favors winning legislative approval for a reorganization plan before considering whether and how to merge the two police forces. Armstrong believes a "seamless approach to fighting crime" requires a merger. He sees no reason for delay, noting that four police units are already merged.

How this and other issues play out remains to be seen. But some things are known for certain now. Both Jackson and Armstrong credit U of L for shaping them, and both look forward to working collaboratively with the university as the community moves into the next century.

Nancy Gall-Clayton '80L is a Louisville free-lance writer, playwright, and attorney.