Every week, Gary and Stormy Jackson arrive at noon and relax before show
Published in the July 8-21, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Photo by John Horner
Gary and Stormy Jackson enjoy the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce’s Friday Night Music Series so much, they travel from Sunnyvale and arrive at noon to get a good spot to watch the weekly concerts.
Every Friday afternoon Gary and Stormy Jackson drive from Sunnyvale to Morgan Hill for the Friday Night Music Series. They arrive about noon with their radio and a set of dominoes and set up camp under the shade of a tree — stage right. When Rich Firato, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors arrives, he rolls out a table and chairs for the couple.
There they sit for hours listening to their music, playing games of dominoes, and watching as volunteers set up the VIP tent, tables, chairs and the wine and beer booths; and as the band’s crew sets up the stage.
“We just enjoy the nice atmosphere, the nice breeze, it’s just very relaxing,” said Gary Jackson. “It’s a very mellow place and the people are so friendly.”
“I enjoy the company and the people are really great,” Stormy Jackson said. “I love to party and I listen to all kinds of music. Nothing specific just all music.”
Rock and roll, classics, blues, B.B. King, The Beach Boys and George Thorogood are just a few of the styles and artists she said are her favorites.
At their first show two years ago, Gary Jackson, 62, said they learned about the friendliness of Morgan Hill residents after Firato welcomed them when they arrived then thanked them for coming as they were leaving.
“That just impressed the hell out of me that someone would go out of their way like that and thank us for coming,” Gary Jackson said.
One summer, the Jacksons and two friends who live in Morgan Hill were attending a festival in Mountain View, when they suggested the Jackson’s check out Morgan Hill’s concert series.
“We’ve been coming here every week ever since,” said Gary Jackson, who grew up in Spokane, Wash.
When he got out of the Coast Guard after six years, he relocated to the Bay Area. His sister was living in San Jose, but he moved into a place in East Palo Alto with a friend who was Stormy’s cousin. The couple eventually lived together for three years before getting married 33 years ago. Now they are both retired, Gary from Monterey Enterprise, a firm that built electronic door locks — they replaced all the locks on the doors at the Pentagon after Sept. 11, 2001 — and Stormy from National Semiconductor.
The couple, who don’t have children, enjoy attending festivals throughout the Bay Area, including those in Los Altos, Fremont and Mountain View, as well as others.
“We like listening to the music, dancing and having a great time,” said Stormy Jackson, 68, who grew up in Oklahoma but moved west with one sister after another asked them to relocate in 1963.
“I just love to come and listen to the music with friendly people,” she said. “We plan to come to all except the last one because we’re going to Reno for vacation.”
