Main Street Business Owner Dead at 93

Barbara Lea Back, a well-known and beloved Jackson business owner, died on Wednesday, February 25, at her home on Lower Main Street.

She was 93.

Back and her husband, Freman Back, owned and operated several businesses in the city, including Variety Pizza and Paul’s Motel.

She was well known for her hard work and untiring effort to keep the businesses running.  Staying at Paul’s Motel was a “very enjoyable experience” because of Barbara Back’s attention to detail.

The Backs purchased Paul’s Motel from Everett McClees in February 1963 and moved from Evanston to Jackson after the mines closed.  In August 1974, the couple bought the old Dairy Whip business across Main Street and rebranded it as “Variety Pizza.” 

“When they opened Variety Pizza, there wasn’t another pizza place around,” the couple’s daughter, Shelia Gross, explained to The Jackson Times-Voice in 2012.  “They had to teach people how to enjoy pizza and Italian food.”

Back also helped bake the “World’s Largest Biscuit” in Variety Pizza’s ovens in 1978 for the Honey Festival.

The couple expanded Paul’s Motel and added a swimming pool and fitness center in the 1980s.

Barbara Back enjoyed crafting and, in 1998, opened “From These Hills,” a craft shop to display and sell her creations.  She also sold jams and jellies at her store on the second floor of Variety Pizza to showcase her skills.

She also enjoyed decorating for the Social Services Children’s Christmas Party and always supported numerous community efforts.

In 2012, the community honored Freman and Barbara Back and their community support by naming them the Grand Marshals of the Downtown Christmas Parade.

The daughter of Shelby and Anna (Keith) Howard, she married Freman Back in 1950, and the couple raised three children.  Their daughter, Shelia (Back) Gross, passed away in 2014, and Freman Back died in June 2023. 

Barbara Back was survived by a son and a daughter, three grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and friends.

She was laid to rest beside her husband in the Jackson Cemetery by family and friends.