Jack was born in Pelahatchie, Mississippi in 1944. His father owned a logging and lumber business, and later a small engine repair shop. Jack’s mother came from sharecroppers who later switched to raising poultry. In this community, Jack came to learn the value of hard work and education.

The whole town of Pelahatchie had one school: Pelahatchie High, which ran K-12. After Jack’s graduation in 1963, he enrolled at Hinds Community College, where he realized that his entire education to that point had been in segregated schools. Jack later trained to become a radiologic technologist at University of Mississippi Medical Centers (UMMC). Jack worked in his field for several years before reaching the conclusion that at heart, he wanted to create places where gay people like himself could congregate. Shortly after his 21st birthday, Jack and a business partner opened Mae’s Cabaret. He continued to work as an X-ray tech during the day.

Mae’s was the first of several ventures that Jack would own over a 50-year stretch, including Jack’s Saloon, the Star Restaurant, Jack and Jill’s, People’s Café, and JC’S (Jack’s Construction Site). At first surprised by Jack’s choice of profession, Jack’s parents got on board and worked the doors for years at Jack’s establishments – becoming well known as Mama and Papa Jack.

During the 1980s, Jack witnessed firsthand the wretched intolerance of some Bible Belt Christians towards people with AIDS. His own cousin’s death affected him deeply. Jack found countless ways to combat the epidemic, including raising money to open a home for local men rejected by their families. The home was named Sandifer House after Eddy

Sandifer, a gay activist known throughout the South.

Jack closed the last of his bars, JC’S, in 2016. Around that time, the Washington Post dubbed him “the patron saint of Mississippi’s gay scene”. In a state where gay life often plays out in don’t-ask-don’t-tell fashion, Jack’s drinking establishments have saved dozens of lives.

OUTWORDS interviewed Jack at his rambling old home in the Fondren neighborhood of Jackson, Mississippi. Jack jokes about how he used to think about hanging up a shingle as a spiritual advisor. After meeting him, it seems like a good fit. He’s warm, soft spoken, and perceptive.

Behind Jack’s house is a 1949 Cadillac in need of a paint job. The best things in life – like Jack’s brand of authentic Southern hospitality – will never go out of style.