Jack Driscoll, Grayson County Sheriff from 1976-1996, dies at 84

The man who served Grayson County as Sheriff from Nov. 1, 1976 through Dec. 31, 1996 has died.

L.E. “Jack” Driscoll was 84 years old. He left the Sheriff’s Office when the county turned Republican back in the 1990s. After leaving the Sheriff’s Office, he worked as a private investigator and worked for a short time with the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office.

Former Grayson County District Attorney Bob Jarvis worked with Driscoll as the prosecutorial head of the county’s law enforcement team.

“Jack was a great sheriff for Grayson County back in the day. He was one of those tough, no nonsense old school guys. He was very helpful to me when I first started and we became good friends. I will miss him,” Jarvis said Monday upon hearing the news of Driscoll’s death.

While Driscoll was a tough as nails lawman, he also had a softer side. For years, he took part in the Herald Democrat’s celebration of National Poetry Month in April by submitting poems, many of which were published.

Driscoll was born and raised in New York state and came to Denison when he entered the Airforce in 1955 and was stationed at Perrin Airforce base. He discharged out of the Airforce and worked for American Life Insurance for a year while he attended the police academy at night. Once he graduated from the police academy, he went to work for the Sherman Police Department in 1962 where he started as patrolman. By 1976, he had worked his way up to detective and ran for County Sheriff.

Grayson County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 David Hawley went to work for Driscoll at the Sheriff’s Office in 1980 and stayed with the department after Driscoll left.

“Sheriff Driscoll was very intelligent, knew laws of the state and the US and knew how to apply them,” Hawley said this week. “Jack hired me in 1980. I was working as a Pallet Jack Operator at Kawner making goon money. Jack told me he had to know that night, so I found my boss and he told me to go ahead. I started as a jailer/ dispatcher wearing a reserve uniform until mine came in. He would show up at most all major events and sometimes when you least expected. He was very particular about the uniform. One night myself and Mike Eppler were working north end of the county when a call came in of Pappies Store, at north end of Hwy. 84, on fire. We did not have our ties on. This was 2 a.m.,” Hawley said.

When they heard the Denison dispatcher tell a Denison officer that the Sheriff was on the way to their location, they put their coats on and tried to turn their collars up to hide the fact that they didn’t have their ties on.

“After we talked with him a while, he started to leave and he said, ‘You loose your ties? Have a good night’. He was a good man,” Hawley said.

He was also a multilingual man who was fluent in Spanish and in French. In addition, he was a licensed polygraph examiner and taught criminal justice at Grayson College. He was a master mason and was involved with the Lions Club, the Shriners, American Legion and other civic clubs locally.

His family said he also loved music and would often entertain his children and then grandchildren playing the guitar and harmonica.