
Jackson Grubb
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Jackson Grubb was, for the most part, your typical 9-year-old. He loved video games, his brother’s stories and, most of all, he loved basketball.
What caught everyone by surprise was that Jackson, despondent about being bullied, took his own life in his family home last Saturday.
“We called him ‘Action Jackson,’ ” brother Tyler Grubb said. “He was always moving. If you had to clean, then he would help you clean, then run off and go play. He was up for anything and it was always fun.”
“I keep telling myself that he did it on accident,” Tyler said of Jackson taking his own life. “I don’t think he wanted to die. I’m telling myself that he didn’t mean to.”
But Jackson’s grandmother, Betsy Baber, says differently – and in no uncertain terms.
“Bullying killed my son,” grandmother Betsy Baber said. “I say he’s my son because I raised him.”
Jackson joined the Grubb family when he was about 2 years old. Tyler said the family fought hard to adopt the boy.
Baber told a local news outlet that her son was bullied for being different.
Jackson had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Baber said.
“I don’t think he needed his medication, though,” she said. “Maybe he did. I think that those kids picking on him didn’t help matters much.”
The family lives in a mobile home community in Sophia – as did some children who the family identified as Jackson’s tormentors. Living so close to your bullies can place a heavy toll on a person, Jackson’s uncle said.
“There’s two boys in the trailer park who were always threatening to bash Jackson’s face in with a rock,” Shane Baber said. “Jack beat them boys up and they swore they’d get him back.”
Shane had told MetroNews this week that he didn’t believe that Jackson meant to kill himself. As he has thought about that statement, Shane has changed his mind.
“I felt like my buddy would never do anything like that,” Shane said. “I wanted to protect his image. I didn’t want Jack to look like someone who had been pushed around until he took his own life, but that’s exactly what happened.
Betsy said she thought the family had handled the bullying on their own.
“I’ve heard about more bullying (Jackson) taking place at the school, but we can’t do anything about that,” Betsy said. “I am not blaming the school. There’s nothing they could have done either.”
Jackson’s older sister, Bobbie, has already suffered through bullying after Jackson’s death, Betsy said.
“Kids are coming up to her and choking themselves and saying, ‘Look! I’m Jackson!’ ” she said. “That’s just cruel. Someone needs to speak up for these kids. There’s always something going on and someone needs to tell someone about it. Words can be devastating. I’ve seen that first-hand.”
“It’s a very tragic situation,” Price said. “No one has reported anything to the central office or to me about bullying taking place.”
Officials at Jackson’s school, Sophia Soak Creek Elementary, refused to comment on whether Jackson was bullied at the school.
Jackson’s family will always remember him as the boy who loved to build things, Betsy said.
“He built a little clubhouse in the front yard,” she said. “He loved to collect strange rocks and he loved monkeys. I bought him a sock monkey before he died. He told me that he wanted to build me a house when he grew up. He always had a good spirit about him.”
With Jackson gone, Tyler, 15, said he is more than a little lost.
“I guess it helps to keep letting it out with all of the news crews and people like that,” Tyler said. “I can’t say anything negative about him except that he would be sad and down when people were mean to him. That’s understandable, though.”
Tyler paused several times to compose himself. Talking about the loss of your buddy isn’t easy, he said.
“When we were little he would love to listen to stories,” Tyler said. “ I loved to tell him stories. I would tell him anything that popped into my head … I miss him.”
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