Accident claims life of recent graduate.

A joyful spirit, cut down in the prime of life.

That’s what friends and co-workers said of 22-year-old Melissa Jackson of Whitehall and Glen Arbor, who died early Sunday morning in a one-car accident in Kasson Township.

“Everyone is walking around in a fog,” said Bonnie Nescott, co-owner of Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor, where Jackson had worked throughout the summer. “She had such a bright future.”

Jackson had just graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in elementary education. She was working at Art’s and the Homestead’s Camp Tam-A-Rack, saving money to move to Colorado to seek a teaching position.

“She was a very hard worker, was very conscientious and had a bubbly personality,” Nescott said, adding that Jackson was good with the public. “She had just told us that she planned on staying to work through the Labor Day holiday. Then she planned to go out West.”

Jackson would work mornings at Art’s and three days a week go to the Homestead, where her parents have had a home for several years.

“Melissa had just finished college and was excited about being a school teacher,” said Lucy Novak, recreation manager at the Homestead and her direct supervisor. “I had known her since she was 12 or 13. She basically grew up here. Both her older brother and sister worked for me.”

Jackson began working at Camp Tam-A-Rack this spring and blossomed, Novak said. She played a larger role in the camp’s “Songs, Stories and Smores” program for children.

“She really jumped into it,” Novak said, recognizing Jackson’s ability to connect with young children. “It was a pleasure to watch her. She would have been a wonderful teacher.”

According to police reports, Jackson was northbound on M-72 when she drove left of center, ran off the road about three-tenths of a mile north of the intersection of Armstrong Road and M-72. She was alone in the vehicle from which she was ejected. Jackson was not wearing a safety belt.

An off duty Michigan State Police trooper discovered the accident about 4:30 Sunday morning, Undersheriff Scott Wooters said.

No other vehicles were involved.

Funeral services were scheduled today at St. James Catholic Church in Montague. Melissa was the daughter of Wayne and Pat Jackson of Whitehall and Glen Arbor.