James Demann Oglesby Jr.

James D. Oglesby was born March 16, 1928, in Meadville, Mississippi to James D. Oglesby Sr. and Nina Brown Oglesby.

After living in Meadville until James was ten, his mother passed away in 1938. After that he and his youngest brother went to live with their Aunt and Uncle, Mary Jane and John Henry Wade who lived in Houston, Texas. James graduated from San Jacinto High School in 1945 and from Baylor University in 1949. He was employed for thirty-eight years at Humble Oil - Exxon until he retired in 1986.

James, mostly known as J.D., and his first wife, Joan (JoAnn) Simpson, were the parents of three children, Susan, Janet, and Robert. Joan (JoAnn) died after a long battle with cancer.

In 1988, James moved from Houston to Pantego, Texas. He was blessed again with marriage to Joyce Reed Smith who had three children, Dr. Chris Smith, Angela Snyder, and Beth Marble. This blended family with the six married children had many happy times together at Granddaddy and Grandma Joyce's home in Pantego, Texas.

James and Joyce were members of Fielder Rd Baptist Church. They loved to travel and saw a lot of the world together, including trips all over our country to welcome their many grandchildren and great grandchildren to this world.

They were both the people who'd be there with a casserole, a pie, a saw or other help when friends and neighbors were in need of a helping hand or a sympathetic ear and a prayer. They were faithful Texas Rangers fans and loved taking their many offspring to see the sites in the entire metroplex and mostly the Arlington area.

James lost Joyce in 2017 when she went home to be with our Lord. They were so in love and his children were amazed at how he managed to adapt to his new life alone, still active in LLL - Living Longer and Loving it with church friends, getting his weekly In and Out burger, taking folks to Babe's and Spring Creek BBQ when any of his many offspring came to visit, and they did.

He was blessed to be the oldest of six-with brothers, Glen, Lenox, Melvin, Myron; and sister, Nina Jean Presley, who all preceded him in death, leaving many grandchildren and great grandchildren. James loved and was close to all of them.

Dad became the patriarch of a very large flock.

Pallbearers:

Cabot Oglesby, Eric Oglesby, Ben Williams, Thomas Marble, Mark Ballard. Neil Staggs

Honorary Pallbearers:

Robert Oglesby, Chris Smith, Tony Snyder, Ken Marble