The tractor dipped and lurched up the incline towards the piece of land Bill had marked out as the site for his new house. Although used to driving tractor, he paid particular attention to what he was doing. With Tommy and Kene aboard, he didn’t want any accidents. 

        It was nice to be back in his home reserve of Whitefish Lake. God was good. It was a beautiful day. As he steered the tractor around a stump, he thought about the Lord’s leading. For it was the Lord’s leading which brought the Jackson family out of Lubicon Lake. 

        A number of factors combined to make the Lord’s will plain. By 1972, Tommy was ready for Grade IX. There was no high school in Lubicon Lake at the time. Students had to go to boarding homes in Peace River, and attend school there. Shirley and Bill did not like that idea. It was a time when drug use was starting to become more and more common in the youth culture. 

        Then NCEM proposed that Bill return to the Lac la Biche area to help in the NCEM Bible School which they had moved from La Ronge, Saskatchewan. The NCEM request impacted strongly on Bill’s heart and mind. It seemed the Lord was permitting the Jacksons to stay together as a family for a little longer. Not only so, but an idea which had appealed to Bill for some time now became very practical.

        “We’ll live on Whitefish Lake Reserve,” he told his family. “Since I became a Christian, I haven’t lived on the reserve for any length of time among my own people.” Everybody in the family endorsed the idea. Not only was there a good regional high school near the reserve, but there would be lots of hunting, fishing, canoeing—and hockey! All the boys were interested in hockey. So, too, was Lyanne. In fact, years later Lyanne’s enthusiasm for the game resulted in Bill coaching her team for a time. Nobody else being available, he somehow fitted it into his schedule. 

        Suddenly, Bill’s reflections were interrupted. Something snapped on the tractor’s underside. It may have been a brake cable or clutch. Whatever it was, the tractor started to roll down the incline. Despite Bill’s frantic efforts, the heavy machine moved faster and faster. 

        “Jump! Jump!” Bill yelled at the boys. Kene jumped first, rolling clear of the tractor as soon as he hit the grass. Then Tommy tried. As his body left the tractor, his arm got tangled with his shirt which was lying beside him on the tractor seat. Instead of landing clear, he fell under the back wheel. The full weight of the tractor rolled over him. 

        Shocked, Bill only saw his firstborn son’s body disappear under the tractor. Desperately, he twisted his body to look back, at the same time making ready to jump. But he couldn’t. His foot jammed between the pedals. 

        Like an unstoppable avalanche, the tractor hurtled towards the creek. The trapped driver struggling violently to free himself. Too late! The metal giant overturned and plunged into the water, on top of Bill. 

        “I remember seeing the sky, and seeing the water kind of close in over my head,” Bill recalled later. “I thought that my time on earth was finished. It all happened so fast.” 

        Miraculously, part of the tractor landed on a log in the mud, slowing its descent to the bottom of the creek. “I gave a good yank, and my foot came loose.” Bill wasn’t aware at the time, but he tore his knee ligaments in the process. “I was out of there in a hurry. But barely in time. The log shifted and the full weight of the tractor pressed down to where I had been lying.” 

        Kene came running to meet his Dad. Bill was sure that Tommy was dead. When he found signs of life, he told Kene to run to the nearest phone, and, “Tell Mom to bring the station wagon because there’s been an accident, but don’t scare her.” Racing as fast as he could, Kene got to a phone. 

        “Mom,” he said, trying to catch his breath, and make his voice sound matter of fact, betraying no hint of anxiety, just as Dad had directed. “Please come quick with the station wagon. Tommy was run over by the tractor.” 

        Shirley phoned a nephew, Larson Jackson, for help to get Bill and Tommy into the station wagon. Then the injured father and son were rushed to the nearest hospital. There was no doctor there at the time, so Larson drove to another hospital 50 miles away where Bill and Tommy were both admitted. X-rays failed to show that Tommy had sustained a cracked pelvis. Bill had suffered injuries to the ligaments in his knee and spent over a month in a cast and using crutches. A few days later, they were both discharged from the hospital. 

        Although Tommy was out of the hospital he could hardly walk and he was soon readmitted. The hairline fracture on his pelvic bone which the hospital X-ray hadn’t shown up, became evident after Tommy went horseback riding! For six weeks after his second discharge from hospital, Tommy hobbled around on crutches, his wooden supports being a tangible reminder of the accident—and of God’s mercy in sparing him and his dad.