National Grid worker Roderick Jackson remembered
No matter what popped up in his life, Roderick “Kito” Jackson stood ready to help his mother and siblings through whatever challenges they faced.
Ten days after his tragic death, his family says they are firm believers that he’s still supporting them.
“I am so proud to be your brother,” Manuel AsprillaHassan said through tears in his eulogy to Kito. “I am so proud of the man who you were and are. Because even in death, you still find ways to support this family, and I don’t know what I’m going to do without you.”
Hundreds of community members turned out to St. Paul A.M.E. Church in Cambridge on Saturday to bid their final farewell to Jackson, a 36-yearold National Grid utility worker who died on the job the afternoon of Dec. 6 when a man allegedly drove into and struck him at a construction detail in Waltham.
Manuel recounted his brother teaching him how to sing to girls, as Kito would play The Temptations’ wildly popular ‘My Girl’ “over and over.” Whenever Kito talked to girls he always acted as a gentleman, Manuel said.
Whatever Kito did, Manuel said he wanted to follow in his footsteps, whether it be playing video games, listening to music or wearing certain clothes.
In fact, Kito inspired Manuel to play sports. With his brother’s support, Manuel excelled playing football. He guided Everett High School to a State
Championship in 2010, became a standout defensive back at Boston College and signed as an undrafted free agent in the NFL with the Chargers.
Manuel is now a law clerk, having graduated from Rutgers Law School this past summer.
“I can feel you standing here next to me,” Manuel said. “I can smell you. I can feel your hand around my neck, telling me everything is going to be OK. That was my hero. He believed in me more than I believed in myself.”
Jackson, an alum of Cambridge Rindge And Latin School, played collegiate basketball and football at Framingham State University. The 2011 graduate came back to Massachusetts to finish out college after he earned a three-year full scholarship to play basketball at William Penn University in Iowa.
Jackson’s love for his family proved too strong, sparking his return home.
The National Grid gas technician died on the job alongside Waltham police officer Paul Tracey.
Jackson had worked for the company since 2021, and he planned on growing in the company before the suspect, who had a lengthy criminal record prior to the incident, robbed his life, his mother Norma Asprilla told reporters Friday.
Jackson’s colleagues, dressed in suits, hopped into National Grid utility trucks after the funeral and followed a hearse and several limos to Kito’s final resting place.
“It could have been any one of us on the job that day,” colleague Steve Rubenskas told reporters. “We are always trying to watch what’s going on, but there’s nothing they could have done there.”
A crew of Waltham police officers decided last week to attend Jackson’s funeral, a day after they attended their colleague’s at the same church that Tracey got married at in their city.
Jackson’s family attended Tracey’s wake on Thursday.
“Roderick was a friend of ours,” Waltham Police Chief Kevin O’Connell told reporters. “We wanted to be out here with them. They’re hurting, we’re
hurting. They came to us, and we came to them. That’s what community is. Without unity, you don’t have strength.”
To carry out their beloved son and brother’s legacy, the family is “ironing out” the details of a Kito Jackson Scholarship Fund that would honor his foremost passions: the community of Cambridge, family and sports.
They are also considering filing a civil lawsuit against the suspect, Peter
Simon, 54, of Woodsville, N.H., who is being held without bail on two counts of manslaughter and a slew of other charges.
“There’s a lot of words that you can’t even put to explain him,” sister Esmeralda Aprilla said Friday. “Anyone you’d ever meet you’d want them to be just like him. He put a smile on everybody’s face. There’s not one person that can say one bad thing about my brother. Never. And you’ll never forget him, either.”