When a school loses an employee, the entire student body suffers. Last week we learned just how much.One of Baylor’s longest working employees, Jackie Birdwell, passed away on Monday, March 31st, 2014. He was sixty-five years old and one of the most respected employees Baylor has seen; he worked faithfully and quietly in the Bill Daniel Student Center. 

Birdwell was born on May 30th, 1948 in Texarkana to Robert and Alberta Bain Birdwell. He was brought to the Methodist Home in Waco by his single mother with his younger brother Jerry when he was five.

He began working at Baylor before he graduated in 1967 from University High School in Waco. He has loyally served Baylor and its student for forty-seven years.

Not only was Birdwell a hard worker, he was a fighter in times of struggles. In an interview for the Baylor Lariat, Birdwell said that he had surgery on his head in 2006 to remove a mass which left an indentation that he covered with a hat at work. In 2010 Birdwell developed skin cancer on his ear, which forced doctors to remove the ear and hospitalized him in a Temple hospital for over two months before moving on to physical therapy.

During his five decades with Baylor, he has earned Employee of the Year for the Texas Association for Retarded Citizens in 1976, was named the Outstanding Handicapped Wacoan in 1978, received the Methodist Home Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1984, received the Baylor Alumni Association's W.R. White Meritorious Service Award in 2005 and has also been titled as an honorary member of the service fraternity Kappa Omega Tau.

In addition to attending Pigskin, Homecoming and football games, Jackie was a faithful member of Columbus Avenue Baptist Church; he sang in the choir and frequently attended the single adult class.

Birdwell told the Lariat, “I would like…for people to pray for my health and for God give me strength to do things.” 

Birdwell is remembered as a man of God, with a kind and giving spirit. He is missed by many, especially the students and staff who worked alongside him daily.