When Louise Jackson came to Bermuda in 1952 to begin a career as a physical education teacher, she had no idea she would end up facing many of her students in the House of Assembly.At the age of 81, as she ends a nine-year stint in Parliament, Mrs Jackson has nothing but gratitude toward Bermuda.“I just want to thank the Country for the opportunity to serve and to be able to contribute on many levels in education, the arts and politics,” Mrs Jackson told The Royal Gazette.“It has been an almost impossible dream to have been able to live the life that I have in this Country.”With many of her colleagues in the House of Assembly once her students, her early years as a teacher are never far from her mind.“When I do speak in the House I still feel like a teacher more than anything else,” she said.“I taught all the Perinchiefs, the whole family.”Wayne Perinchief, is the current Minister of National Security; his brother, Phil Perinchief, served a stint as Attorney General before leaving the political stage.Others in Parliament once taught by Mrs Jackson include three former Progressive Labour Party Premiers — Jennifer Smith, Alex Scott and Ewart Brown. She also taught Information Services Minister Michael Scott, backbenchers Dale Butler and Randy Horton and former Tourism Minister Renee Webb.“I don’t even want to admit I taught some of these folks,” she said jokingly.The United Bermuda Party’s Kim Swan, former Premier Pamela Gordon and Bob Richards and Pat Gordon-Pamplin of the One Bermuda Alliance are also former students.Asked why so many of her students ended up in the PLP, Mrs Jackson who was a member of the United Bermuda Party until she joined the OBA, noted that many of Bermuda’s politicians, even those now in the Opposition party, started off in the PLP.She was “brought up as very liberal” in her native Philadelphia.“I was from a family which fought for equal rights and this consumed most of my childhood and young adulthood. And then I came to Bermuda and jumped right into the fray.”Mrs Jackson graduated from Howard University, where she majored in health and physical education. She continued with postgraduate work at Columbia University. She also studied dance in both the United States and England and her passion for the Island’s culture led her to research Bermuda’s Gombeys and write a book.“I’ve always been into the Gombeys,” Mrs Jackson said.“When I first came to Bermuda I saw people didn’t respect them, didn’t want them dancing on their lawns and it’s one of the few things that we can turn to and say that is Bermudian.”Today, she continues to educate and deliver presentations on what she describes as the Island’s “artistic treasure”.She was married to the late Albert Jackson, a Senate president for 13 years. The couple had two daughters.Her contribution to the arts in Bermuda and the work and research she did on the Gombeys earned her an MBE from the Queen.Before she entered Bermuda’s Parliament in 2003, the long-time member of the UBP was probably best known for founding the Jackson School of Performing Arts, which celebrates its 60th anniversary next year.Since then, however, she has earned her stripes as the Island’s most vocal and strident advocate for senior citizens.Her initial shadow portfolio was Cultural Affairs.“I thoroughly enjoyed that,” she said. “I’ve always felt the arts have been like stepchildren. Sports get millions of dollars thrown into them but not all children are sports children.”Mrs Jackson was handed the portfolio with responsibility for seniors and health immediately after the cultural affairs stint.As it turned out, she was following in the footsteps of her mother Luttie Carpenter who had made a name for herself as a seniors’ advocate and became a high-ranking official of the American Association of Retired Persons.“I started to recall all of the things that she fought for,” Mrs Jackson said. “So I was able to kind of reach back and remember the things that she had done and hear her talk about.”Within a month of assuming the seniors’ portfolio, Mrs Jackson started receiving calls describing stories of extreme hardship among some seniors.“I couldn’t understand how it could be and there were no agencies to help,” she said.“That was one of the first things that really started on my crusade, I guess you could call it.”Mrs Jackson learned to use the media to draw attention to the cause and pressure the Government into action.“All of these people, on some level, I knew. Or my husband knew. It just, to my mind, was unbelievable that a Country could allow this kind of thing to happen. Everybody knew — government departments knew that these people were in this situation. They still wouldn’t give them financial assistance because they owned their own homes.”In the beginning much of her pleas for action hit a wall.“As a very last resort, I had to turn to The Royal Gazette.”One of the most tragic cases involved a senior, referred to by this newspaper as “Miss C”, who was reported to have been subjected to several years of abuse by two men who moved into her home. Mrs Jackson was alerted to the situation by concerned neighbours in 2007. Following an investigation, Miss C was placed under a protection order and moved to a rest home. She died shortly after. No charges were filed against the men due to the fact that the statue of limitations had expired and there was no longer a material witness.Mrs Jackson launched a successful campaign for a Senior Abuse Register Act which came into force in 2008.The law, which requires that those convicted of elder abuse be placed on a register and given a maximum $10,000 fine and/or a maximum three-year prison sentence, “is not perfect, it’s not good and it needs to be amended”, Mrs Jackson said. “Nobody’s been charged under it — to show you it needs to be amended.”Government has also recently passed a law allowing seniors who own property to qualify for financial assistance.And Miss C’s case led to police forming a Vulnerable People’s Unit for more efficient handling of such cases in the future.Mrs Jackson has also pushed hard for improvements to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, a mission she says has, for the most part, been successful.“They have listened to me on many levels,” she said.But she lamented the fact that she has been unable to get any commitment for a continuing care unit in the new hospital.“We’re told it’s an acute care hospital. No one will say where the CCU will be, even though the senior population is exploding and there’s a long waiting list to get into the Island’s residential homes for senior citizens.”Mrs Jackson’s persistence in the House of Assembly irked many among the Government benches — many of whom did not hesitate in making their views known in ways that upset even some ruling party supporters. But she took all the heckling and jeers in stride.“It has not annoyed me anymore than would the naughty child at the back of the class throwing a spitball,” she said.“That’s how I see them when they do that. As a teacher of many years, I just look at them as unruly, naughty childlike people.”Ultimately, though, Mrs Jackson feels a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation.“I’ve been very fortunate in life. I’ve had a personal journey that’s been very rewarding. I’ve had four or five different careers and businesses which have enriched my life and I hope that they have helped others,” she said.“I’ve just had the most amazing experiences in this beautiful Country. I just thank all of my constituents, my past students, my colleagues on all levels who helped me to have a joyous personal journey.”And she says she has no intention of fading away into the sunset — she will continue to take an active role behind the scenes and teach and mentor her political successors.