Russell “Rusty” Jarnagin

Russell “Rusty” Jarnagin

(1944-2023)

Russell “Rusty” Jarnagin took his last breath on earth and his first breath in Heaven on November 10, 2023.

Rusty was born in Amarillo, Texas on November 20, 1944, to parents, Russell “Cotton” and Peggy Jarnagin. His dad was an iron worker, which took Rusty’s parents, himself,

and his three older sisters to many new locations across the US during his childhood. As a teenager, however, Rusty’s life changed forever when his family found themselves settling in Morgan Hill, California. It was there he met the love of his life, Delores B. Cockrell. The two eventually married and started a family, welcoming their first two children. Soon after, the Panhandle started calling Rusty back so he, his wife, and two kids made a new home in Wildorado, Texas. Around 4 years later, the couple’s third child came along.

Rusty’s life as “a man of all trades” began upon returning to Texas. He started out in farming then later followed in his dad’s footsteps as an iron worker. In the mid-1980s, Rusty received the calling to join the seminary and later graduated from the Amarillo College Seminary in 1986. He performed weddings and funerals, as well as many evening church services at Faith City Mission of Amarillo. At the same time, he decided to follow his passion for trucks and started his own trucking business, Jarnagin & Associates. As if he didn’t have enough to juggle, he also ran Wildorado’s well-known Jesse’s Cafe for a time. Eventually, though, he came full circle and went back to farming and continued to do so until the last of his days.

Rusty was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Susie Q Slaten. His survivors include his wife, Delores, children, Debbie (Nolan), Buzzy (Barbara), Jeff (Shawn), granddaughter, Chelsea B., great grandsons, Rodee and Casey and sisters, Mary Emma Burks and Paula Jarnagin, plus numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. (Not to mention an entire community he considered his family, too!)

Rusty believed lives should be celebrated at their end. For as long as his family can remember, he said he didn’t want a funeral or even a memorial. He wanted an “old fashioned ice cream social” where everyone brings their favorite homemade ice cream!

Even though the date for Rusty’s celebration is pending, his loved ones are requesting for all of his friends and family to dust off your ice cream freezers and have the ice and rock salt on standby! We will raise our spoons together to a man who touched so many lives.