WHEREAS, Alma Perez Jackson was the epitome of gracious gumption: she was ladylike, unfailingly polite, poised, wore fabulous business suits, and possessed a decorous, reserved manner amid the sea of flamboyant political personalities; and
WHEREAS, Alma’s strong Christian faith was always at the forefront of everything she did: she was a well-known prayer warrior and weekly prayer leader in Bexar County Republican circles, and her devotion to Life and adherence to Christian values served as an unshakable, unmistakable witness; and
WHEREAS, Alma was an unswerving believer in Republican Principles her entire life and advocated for the Republican Party every chance she got, including by engaging with young people she encountered in places such as the grocery store and drive-thru lines; and
WHEREAS, she was born Alma Romelia Perez and raised on the West Side of San Antonio to immigrant parents, and despite coming from an environment with few Republicans at that time, held conservative convictions from the start; and
WHEREAS, Alma worked in banking and was an entrepreneur while starting and raising her family with her devoted husband, Chris Jackson; they had a son and two daughters, and she was a very active and loving grandmother to their children; and
WHEREAS, Alma was a precinct chairman in her originally-very-blue San Antonio neighborhood from 1987 to 2016, and she would take candidate literature, put her kids in a little red wagon, and pull them around with her to share election information with neighbors: at one point after she rang a doorbell, she heard a woman inside the house yell to her husband, “It’s that Republican woman!”; and
WHEREAS, Alma was an Election Judge for over ten years and the Chair of the Bexar County Republican Party Precinct Organization Committee, and she filled more than 150 precinct chairman vacancies in her first two years in that role, providing the precinct chairmen with training and support that had been previously lacking; she was truly committed to mentorship to grow the Party; and
WHEREAS, Alma served on the board of, and chaired multiple committees over the years in, Republican Business Women (now San Antonio Republican Women) and belonged to the Alamo Pachyderm Club, Alamo City Republican Women, and Bexar County Republican Women; and
WHEREAS, in 2012 she ran for State Representative for House District 125, which has been a Democrat stronghold, and garnered almost 40% of the vote; while she was running, one day she was home alone when two people in a domestic dispute accosted her in her driveway, leading her to carefully fire her handgun into her lawn to convince them to leave, which led several of her neighbors to delightedly take her campaign yard signs; and
WHEREAS, in 2015 Alma ran in the special election for the vacated Texas Senate seat for District 26, seeing to it that there was a Republican challenger in a political-machine-run Democrat stronghold; and
WHEREAS, Alma was a Lifetime NRA member, and a staunch and consistent advocate for citizens’ gun rights; and
WHEREAS, Alma taught civics classes to legal immigrants, teaching about the political process and emphasizing the American values of personal responsibility, trust in God, and honest hard work; and
WHEREAS, Alma was enthusiastically honored with the Republican Party of Texas Volunteer of the Year 2013 Award for her commitment to her faith, community engagement, precinct organization, her own candidacy for state representative, and her encouragement of campaign involvement by blockwalking and phonebanking on behalf of so many Republican candidates, and
WHEREAS, Alma was elected as the State Republican Executive Committeewoman for Senatorial District 26 for the term of 2014-2016, and throughout her volunteer service to the Republican cause, promoted and embodied the importance of mentorship and sharing with newcomers to the Party, in order to pass on the wisdom of experience and to encourage more participation; and
WHEREAS, at the State Convention in San Antonio, Texas, in 2018 she was elected Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, and during her time as Vice Chairman, she was a big proponent of rebranding our GOP from “Grand Old Party” to the “Greater Opportunity Party”; and
WHEREAS, in 2019, while she was State Vice Chairman, she went where few state leaders had ever gone before – to the outer fringes of the state, all along the border and throughout far South Texas, and on her travels, when Young Republicans gathered and thought she would give a speech, she would instead say, “I’m here to listen and learn from you”; she swore in the officers of newly formed Young Republican clubs in counties including Webb and El Paso, and met with Party leaders of counties far from Austin to hear what they needed; and
WHEREAS, after she was no longer the State Vice Chairman, Alma stayed on as Chairman of Engagement for the Party at the State Chairman’s behest and also led the Juan Seguin Society to reach and prepare Hispanic citizens for civic engagement and political participation; and
WHEREAS, anyone who had the privilege to attend any of Alma’s parties, meet-and-greets, or events she hosted at her home knows what a superb cook and baker she was: an Alma event was always a sumptuous feast of many from-scratch dishes in her magazine-cover-worthy and welcoming home; her orange cake was a divine surprise, her enchiladas deserve songs to be written about them, and her stuffed jalapeños became legends during her lifetime; now
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas is eternally grateful to and appreciative of the influence and long-lasting contributions of the generous, sweet, hardworking, honorable, humble, courteous, ladylike, respectable, faithful, and feisty Republican pillar, Alma Perez Jackson; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas expresses our deepest condolences to Alma’s son Tony Castillo and daughters Kathy Yarbrough and Kelly Tyson, and to her many beloved friends throughout our State; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Alma’s modest and dedicated presence will long be missed at our State Republican Executive Committee meetings, in her home county of Bexar, and in all the places across Texas where she generously traveled to help, train, and motivate.
May God grant the Republican Party of Texas more such faith-filled, dedicated, humble servants inspired and influenced by Alma Perez Jackson.
