June 19 obituaries

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Martin A. Brooks

1930-2020

Mr. Martin A. Brooks, 89 of Snyder died peacefully in his home on Thursday, June 18, 2020.

A graveside service for Mr. Brooks will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Hillside Memorial Gardens under the direction of Bell-Cypert-Seale Funeral Home, with Brother Alan Culp officiating. No visitation is planned.

Martin was born June 28, 1930, in Henderson to Alvie and Bettie (Ross) Brooks. He grew up on a farm near Henderson. At the age of 16, he graduated high school and immediately started his banking career at Citizens Bank in Henderson. In 1950, West Texas State Bank was organized, bringing 'Brooks' (as known by family and friends) to Snyder. He remained with WTSB for more than 50 years, working his way up through the ranks. He served in every position there during his tenure, with his last title being CEO. In 1952, he was petitioned for service in the Marine Corp. and proudly served this country, returning to Snyder after the Korean War.

In 1954, he met the love of his life, Dixie Tucker, in Seagraves. They were married there on May 8, 1955, and Snyder has always been their home.

Brooks was never a boastful man and often downplayed his many accomplishments. One of his personal proudest was in the summer of 1964, when he graduated from Louisiana State University School of Banking. He served on numerous boards and committees, including securing the Price Daniel Unit here in Snyder. Brooks was highly respected in the community and when asked by family and friends to describe him, the most common term would be 'a gentleman'. Many former bank customers have shared that Brooks was instrumental in allowing them opportunities to realize dreams of business and/or home ownership.

His life is best remembered by his loyalties, fairness, ethics and generosity. He was raised to be a gentleman, and he remained throughout his life an exemplary one, which is very rare today.

He was preceded in death by his parents; one sister; one brother; and his in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Coy Tucker.

Survivors include his wife of 65 years; his adopted extended family, Tammy Davis, Carolyn Jeter and longtime friend Eddie Don Floyd; as well as his wonderful caregivers, Teresa Lopez, Angela Sanchez, Adela Sanchez and Mariah Garces. A special thanks to Cogdell Memorial Hospice for their care in his last days,

Memorials may be made to Texas Baptist Institute & Seminary, Snyder Senior Citizens Center or Cogdell Hospice.

 

John Carl Jones

1940-2020

Mr.John Carl Jones, 79, of Snyder died Friday, June 19, 2020, at Goodlife Senior Living in Snyder.

Services for Mr. Jones will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at  Bell-Cypert-Seale Funeral Home with Pastor Reid Johnson officiating. Burial will follow at Snyder Cemetery.

Mr. Jones was born Oct. 5, 1940, in Atoka, Okla., to Austin Carl and Bertha Beulah (Munholland) Jones. He married Pat Mann July 19, 1982, in Clovis, N.M.

Mr. Jones loved hunting and fishing, and had a passion for music. He also loved to sing at church. He was a poet and even wrote a few songs. He was known as the "candy man." He enjoyed woodworking and built toyboxes for the grandbabies. He was a hard worker and provided for his family. He was good at bringing laughter to any situation.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Survivors include two daughters, Carla Sanchez and husband, Gilbert, of Ira and Brenda Boley and husband, Tom, of Snyder; four sons, Dude Jones and wife, Theresa, of Snyder, Jay Jones and wife, Lora, of Abilene, Curtis Mann of Snyder and Richard Mann and wife, Terrisue, of Snyder; 13 grandchildren, Michael, Sarah and husband, Roy, Andrew, Lee, Ashlee, Bailey and husband, Jacob, Bryce and wife, Lesley, Matthew, Morgan and husband, Matthew, Candace and husband, Tino, Amber, Seth and wife, Michaela, and Dustin; 11 great-grandchildren, Hunter, Roy, Cari, Cali, Kyleigh, Karmindy, Karley, Kaci, Jovi Jane, Caeson and Cadrian; three sisters, Lavon Monds of Live Oak, Fla., Freda Rayvon of Snyder and Doretha Isbell of Fairfield.

Online condolences may be posted at www.bellcypertseale.com .

 

Joshua Jed Martin

1985-2020

Joshua Jed Martin, 34, died Thursday, June 4, 2020.

A memorial service was held at 11 a.m. Saturday at River City Community Church’s Real Life Amphitheater in Selma.

Jed was born in Snyder, Texas, to a family who loved him ever so much. It was a happy life in a town where everyone knew everyone else, a life filled with church activities, community theater, and sports, from soccer to Little Dribblers to Little League baseball. Jed was competitive.  Michael Jordan was his favorite basketball hero, and Jed claimed the number 23. But in baseball, he eagerly followed his big brother’s favorite number 6. Jed has so many levels of interests: an outdoorsman, an academic, a real music man who grew up listening to classic rock; but his affinity for genres was wide-ranged and ever-growing. And dogs, always, have been part of home for all Jed’s life. 

Just before Jed’s seventh grade year, the family moved to Pampa in 1999. It was a hard move because Jed so loved Snyder and was involved in so many ways. But Jed and his brother Wes adjusted eventually, particularly because the community of Pampa so fully embraced them. Jed continued to excel in baseball and basketball, being named All-State in both sports. He was one of the top five of his class and graduated from Pampa High School with the class of 2004. 

Jed’s personality has been described as intense, in that he wanted to do everything with all the strength he could muster, both mentally and physically. He was always all in. Yet his personality was also calm and unpretentious. He wasn’t so into whatever was all the rage. But he made good friends, real friends, true friends. Jed was genuine and spoke truth to all of us. He expected nothing less and often chided his family with the reminder that there would be “no sugar-coating.” 

Jed graduated from Texas A&M University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. By that time, Jed had become an avid golfer. He entered optometry school and completed his Doctorate of Optometry from University of Houston in 2012.  

It was in optometry school that he called home and told his parents of a girl he’d met, who was also in optometry school. Jed had fallen in love, and his family soon fell in love with her, too. Lindsey Denison and Jed Martin married in 2013, making their home in San Antonio, working side by side in the field of optometry and building an exceptional and happy life for themselves and for their children to come.  

Their dream came true of having a family, a boy and a girl, and giving them the same initials OJM. October James Martin was born in 2016, and his little sister, Olivia Jewel Martin, was born in 2018. Not many people do life as beautifully as Jed and Lindsey. They were each other. 

Jed and Lindsey hosted the grand opening of their Vision Source Optometry office in Bulverde in May of 2019.  It was an incredible accomplishment.  They’d come to love the community. It was that same month that Jed’s parents left Abilene, thrilled to be closer to Jed and Lindsey and, well, especially to their extraordinary grandkids.

It seemed an almost perfect world.

But the life they had all hoped for was not to be. In July 2019, Jed received a devastating diagnosis of cancer. Later, metastasis of the liver added further complications. 

Jed fought bravely and fiercely every single day against the illness. He took upon himself excruciatingly painful treatments and played down the pain, never wanting to worry his loved ones. He wanted so badly to stay here in this life, to continue in the role of daddy to his two children and to continue to be husband to the love of his life. And Jed was just Jed, joking with the nurses and the doctors, making them laugh and treating them as he did anyone he met, with his full attentiveness and kindness. Lindsey never ever left his side. She arranged to be with him at MD Anderson, acquiring the best care and seeing him through excruciatingly painful treatments of all sorts. Lindsey was a rock to Jed and to all those who love him.  

We all thought healing would come. Multitudes of people prayed with far bigger than mustard seed faith. But the mountain would not move. Each day, Jed’s health worsened. 

What was once such a strong body transformed into a body imprisoned by pain and disease. 

But in the end, mid-morning on June 4, 2020, surrounded by those who loved him most, his face finally and beautifully eased, even glowed with the most peaceful pleasantness. Another horizon welcomed him in the distance and soul ascended from body into life eternal. We will never understand, at least in this life, why Jed had to travel to the other side at the early age of 34, whilst there was still so much of life left to live. 

Oh how his family will miss him. As C.S. Lewis described about the death of his loved one, Jed’s absence is “like the sky, spread over everything.”

Survivors include his wife; two children, Tober, who will be 4-years-old in August, and Livi Jewel, who will be 2-years-old in July; his parents of Lakehills; an older brother, Wes Martin and friend, Kim Smith, both of San Antonio; his grandparents, Joe and Peggy Martin of Pampa, and James and Janet Wesson of Snyder, Texas; uncles and aunts, Gary and Angie Martin of Pampa, Jay and Deborah Wesson, of Waco and Jeff and Holly Wesson of Midland; cousins Payton Baird of San Antonio, Kalli Wesson (and daughters Autumn and Emilie), J.W. Wesson, Tayla Saylor (and husband Hayden and son J.D.), Micah Wesson Mitchell (and husband Brad and children Heidi, Halle, and Wyatt), Jacey Wesson Dennard (and husband Dex and children Deacon and Jaye), Craig Wesson (and wife Kallie and children Joleen and Carter Craig) and Cody Wesson. 

Jed is also survived by two people he called “angels”: Barbara Sojourner and Ila Ruth Newton of Snyder, dear to Jed since childhood. 

Lindsey’s family, too, loved Jed deeply. His passing leaves an everlasting void in a host of the many families who loved him.

Oh, how Jed’s many, many friends will miss him.  He had a lot of best friends. At Jed and Lindsey’s wedding reception, Jed’s friends commented that one so very unique thing about Jed is that each of his friends claim Jed as a very best friend. Jed took the relationships he had very seriously. In conversations, he met you eye-to-eye with uninterrupted attention. In fact, he had a strong pet peeve about interruptions and was not hesitant to chide anyone who dared answer a cell phone in the midst of lunch or dinner.

No doubt Jed lives on eternally in the arms of Jesus. But an out-of-order death leaves those still here paralyzed with grief. Yet what choice do we have but to live each day more deeply in light and in love. Jed would want nothing less. We look forward to the day we see him again. Jed held a strong belief that something so brilliant and beautiful awaits us all.

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.  And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb.  And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.  

- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet  

Jed’s family thanks so many who have expressed beautiful condolences. 

The Joshua Jed Memorial Fund has been established for anyone wishing to donate to a school for impoverished children in Kenya. Donations are accepted by Change a Life Academy, P.O. Box 6091, Abilene, Texas, 79608; or may be submitted to Change a Life website, calkenya.org  

Dr. Lindsey Martin also sends many thanks to optometrists and friends who contributed to a Dr. Jed Martin GoFundMe, initiated by Jed’s mentor and dear friend, Dr. Mario Gutierrez.