Profile Photo: Bob Jackson

Bob
Jackson

Phone: 903.233-3917
Email: BobJackson@letu.edu

  • Lab Technician, Machine Tool & Design Labs


EDUCATION AND TRAINING

  • B.A. at Southwest Baptist University, School for Theology, Bolivar, MO
  • Industrial training for Industrial Engineer, Northrop Corporation

 

WORK HISTORY

  • Machine Tool and Design Lab Technician | LeTourneau University, School of Engineering (2011 – Present)
  • Associate Pastor | Second Baptist Church, Henderson, TX (2011 – Present)
  • Technical Specialist | General Dynamics, Satellite Receivers & Communications (2003 – 2011)
  • Nursing Home Chaplain | Texas Choice, Henderson, TX (2000 – 2003)
  • Precision Machinist | Aerospace & Locomotive Component Machining, Ogden, UT (1990 – 2000)
  • Machinist, Supervisor, & Industrial Engineer | Northrop Corporation (1981 – 1990)
    • Contributed to advanced aerospace research, development and engineering for the B-2 Stealth Bomber project.
  • Aerospace Machinist | LeFiell Manufacturing Company (1974 – 1981)
    • Manufactured precision components for NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs.
    • LeFiell supplied components to major aerospace contractors including Howard Hughes, McDonnell Douglas, and North American Rockwell during the height of the American space program.
  • Blaster | Magma Copper Mine, San Manuel, AZ (1973 – 1974)
  • Composite & Machine Operator | Kearney Electric Company (1969 – 1971)
  • Flight Line Interior Installer | McDonnell Douglas, Long Beach, CA (1966 – 1969)
  • Specialist 5 (SP5) / RADAR Technician | United States Army, Okinawa (1963 – 1966)

 

TOPICS TAUGHT

  • Machine Shop Safety Training – Comprehensive safety protocols and asset protection for engineering labs.
  • Industrial Machine Operations – Practical, hands-on instruction for diverse fabrication and machining equipment.

 

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

Bob Jackson has been a lab technician at LeTourneau University since 2011. An experienced machinist and an ordained minister, Bob brings more than sixty years of machining experience to his work, from farm equipment to aircraft and space shuttle components. His career has taken him from the machine shops of Southern California into some of the most fascinating chapters of American aerospace history.

Bob and his wife, Helen, have been married since 1964. They were born just three years apart in the same hospital in Bell Gardens, California, and have spent their lives growing, working, serving, and raising a family together. They have one daughter and one grandson.

Bob's career took an interesting turn in his younger years. While attending junior college in Costa Mesa, California, he discovered that he had a particular talent for surfing and, as he tells it, perhaps a little less enthusiasm for studying. In 1963, he joined the U.S. Army, where he served as a radar technician during the Vietnam era.

As it turned out, the Army gave Bob technical training that would become the foundation for a remarkable career in machining. Over the decades that followed, he worked his way into increasingly specialized machining and aerospace work, including machining components for space shuttles. He also became part of the research and development team for the Northrop B-2 Stealth Bomber.

So perhaps it really was a good thing that Bob loved surfing more than school. The education he received in the Army and the skills he developed throughout his career, eventually led him to work on extraordinary machines.

Through all those years, however, Bob's greatest passion has not been machinery. Bob loves the Lord and has devoted his life to serving Him. He has experienced both difficult seasons and great blessings, and he will be the first to tell you that God has been faithful through them all.

Today, Bob continues to serve both God and others through his work at LeTourneau, where his experience, stories, and willingness to share what he knows have become a valuable part of the Engineering community.