By Barbara A. Preston | Posted February 2, 2023
Nate Jackson is a two-time All- American and a United World Wrestling World Cup Champion. He is in his sixth season as an assistant coach with the Princeton University wrestling team. Raychelle Jackson is a beauty queen who just competed in the Mrs. USA Earth pageant in Orlando, Florida in January. She also is developing a career in real estate with Weichert in Princeton.
They live in Montgomery Township with their four children: Nathan, 10, at Lower Middle School; Carter-Ray, 8, at Village School; Zoe-Ryan, 6, at Orchard Elementary; and Kynlee-Reign, 5, at Blawenburg Nursery School.
The Montgomery News caught up with the Jacksons at the Montgomery Library as part of a new Question and Answer series with Montgomery families.
Q: How did you two meet?
A: Nate and Raychelle met in a Chicago suburb at the age of 11 and 12. No, wait. They went to the same preschool and had the same teachers, but don’t remember if they were ever in the same class together at the same time. Nathan lived next door to Raychelle’s grandfather. On summer days, when Raychelle would visit her grandfather, she would visit the Jackson residence too. She says she immediately fell in love with Nate. They began dating and by the age of 18, they were married. They have four children and have travelled the world, but they had never had an actual wedding. So, after 10 years of being together, they renewed their vows in a real wedding in 2022.
Q: You each have a title, one as a beauty queen and one as wrestler. How do you each hone and maintain a winning mindset?
A: Faith. It’s 100 percent believing in God. Especially recently, they both say. Raychelle adds that her parents modeled a winning mentality, and she hopes to pass that on to her children.
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Q: What do you hope to teach your children?
A: We were taught that we could do whatever we want in this world, regardless of what we look like, or what people say about us, Raychelle says. We were also taught to love everybody equally. Nathan adds that, “As coach, I deal with kids a lot. I’m almost like a teacher. Every time a kid is in room, they are trying to figure out how valuable they are in that room. Kids do this inside the home, and outside of the house. “Your value has to come from inside,” Nate said.
Q: What keeps you afloat on your roughest days?
A: Our son, Nathan. Just remembering when we were pregnant with him in high school, and all the backlash we were getting from the outside. We stayed strong for our son, Raychelle says. On the inside, we were saying to each other, “Hey, we’ve got this. We have big dreams. And we stayed strong. It was 1,000 percent for our son.” Nate adds that sometimes things on the outside can seem more important, or that we can be everything to everybody. But our growth has come from talking with each other and figuring out what’s best for us and people in our house. So when we go out into the world, we are not really worried about anything. Our world in intact from a family perspective. Nathan concludes, “The future is bright in Princeton and Montgomery”.
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