Jackson puzzles
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Bill Jackson works on one of his intricate three-dimensional puzzles at his work station in his Morning Pointe residence. - Photo submitted
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Bill Jackson, 96, keeps his mind challenged by building three-dimensional wooden puzzles, which he displays in the hallway at Morning Pointe Hardin Valley. - Photo submitted
After Bill Jackson, a 96-year-old resident of Morning Pointe Senior Living in Hardin Valley, retired from broadcasting about five years ago, he searched for something to keep him busy.
While dealing with the COVID pandemic, he also had double bypass surgery and was the caregiver for his late wife, Dorothy.
“I can’t just sit around here and watch TV,” he said.
“I wasn’t able to do the things I had been doing,” Bill recalled. “I was faced with ‘what do you do?’ So, I got into puzzles.”
Initially starting with jigsaw puzzles with his wife, Dorothy, “we’d put a puzzle out on the dining room table and work on it,” he said.
But, the pastime soon bored him. Then, Bill discovered three-dimensional puzzles.
On Amazon, “they had a laser-cut three-dimensional wooden puzzle,” he said. “I hadn’t even thought of anything like that.”
Now Bill builds intricate wooden three-dimensional puzzles — from little kiwi birds and ponies to globes, locomotives, architectural models and lights and other mechanical designs.
“The laser cuts them out so precise, you don’t even need glue,” he said.
As a child, Bill made balsa wood model airplanes, which he observed were made similar to the 3-D puzzles. He also was able to use prior woodworking skills.
The hobby quickly became part of his weekly routine, providing a sense of purpose as he found a way to not only communicate with children using his projects but also fellow residents, as it helped their memories.
He would watch a resident’s face light up when she saw a pony and remember, “I had a pony like that!”
He said one of his favorite designs is “Brainaic,” a head covered in gears of various shapes. He displays them on a stand beside his door in the hallway, along with two globes he made, a music box, pinball machine and other items.
“I discovered a locomotive [puzzle],” Bill said. “I was fascinated with the fact that the instructions were like building a house. You have to put one piece with the next and build up.”
It is unlike a jigsaw puzzle, “where you just match them up,” he said. And, “I found they had a miniature pinball machine [puzzle]. It’s got the little microchip sensor for the sound and lights. The instruction is 75 pages. That was a real challenge when I got on it, and I made three of them.”
“The first one I gave as a Christmas present to my son-in-law and my grandchildren,” Bill said.
Another one he kept for himself and the third he gave to a veterans’ group.
“Recently, videos of Bill and his finished puzzles have started gaining attention on TikTok, where viewers are drawn to both the complexity of the builds and the fact that he’s still learning, creating and staying curious at 96,” said Clarissa Alberto, communications assistant with Morning Pointe. “Bill says puzzle-building acts as meditation and therapy for him, and he especially enjoys seeing other residents — and visiting grandchildren — light up when they see the finished pieces.
“At a time when aging is often framed around limitation, Bill’s story offers a refreshing perspective on curiosity, focus and connection across generations,” Alberto said.
