John Russell

1926 - 2022

John Russell
June 19, 1926 - September 2, 2022
The Woodlands, Texas - Bishop John William Russell, a long time Fort Worth resident, passed away at the age of 96 on September 2, 2022, at the Reunion Court of the Woodlands, Texas. John was born on June 19, 1926, in Abilene, Texas, to Rev. Virgel Russell, a Methodist minister, and his wife Louise Hayden.
While attending high school in Anadarko, Oklahoma, John met Mary Jean Garrett, and following graduation in 1944, and a tour in the Army serving in Japan, they married on December 26, 1947. The marriage endured for 71 years, ending only upon Mary Jean's death one day following their anniversary in 2018. The union was blessed with three children: Mary Margaret, Deborah Ann, and John Garrett.
He graduated from Oklahoma City University in 1949 with a BA Degree, and in 1952 from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, with a Bachelor of Divinity Degree, whereupon he was ordained an Elder in the Methodist Church. It was the beginning of a life of dedication and service to God and the Methodist Church which would span a period of over forty years. He subsequently received a Doctor of Divinity from Oklahoma City University and a Doctor of Humanities from Texas Wesleyan University.
John received his first appointment in 1952 to the First Methodist Church in Wagoner, Oklahoma. Thereafter, a succession of appointments and moves would take he and Mary Jean to Methodist churches in Vinita, Oklahoma, the Village Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, and finally to the First United Methodist Church in Enid, Oklahoma, which they considered their dream appointment. They were the perfect team.
The UMC had other ideas and in 1975 John was appointed District Superintendent of the Tulsa District, Oklahoma Annual Conference, of the United Methodist Church, and subsequently, in 1976, to the post of Senior Pastor to the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa, where he served until 1980 and his election as a Bishop of the United Methodist Church. He was then appointed as Resident Bishop, Dallas-Ft. Worth Episcopal Area, South Central Jurisdiction, United Methodist Church, and in 1988, as the Resident Bishop, Ft. Worth Episcopal Area, South Central Jurisdiction, of the United Methodist Church, from which he retired in 1992. Following his retirement, he served as a member of the Council of Bishops and the College of Bishops. He was a member of the Board of the Methodist Children's Home in Waco, Texas for 20 years.
John was justifiably proud, but not too proud, of course, that in each of the churches he served, a major building project was initiated and completed during his tenure. He was generally regarded as the "Building Pastor".
For all his accomplishments, John was and remained a warm, generous, and compassionate family man. Known affectionately as "Bam Bam" to his grandchildren (derivation unknown), he delighted in taking family vacations, usually to the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado where he could engage in one of his passions, stream fishing. He was a patient and relentless stalker of rainbow, cutthroat, golden and brown trout, and encouraged all of his children and grandchildren to engage in the pursuit. There are home movies, photos and such going back over half a century to prove it. Another of his passions was the University of Oklahoma football team. Fortunately, his innate humility and kindness kept this particular interest from becoming insufferable, as so often we have witnessed in those of this ilk. Still, you did not want to be around John when a Sooner game was in progress.
John is survived by a sister, Louise Ann Russell of Colorado; daughters Mary Margaret Layton and her husband Bill of The Woodlands, Texas; Deborah Ann Cordaro, and her husband Louis, of Shreveport, Louisiana; granddaughters Melissa Kathleen Layton of Bryan, Texas, and Meredith Marie Layton and her husband James Mason, and their son, John's great grandson, William Osborne Mason, all of Clear Lake City, Texas; and his adopted grandson, William Russell Layton (and his children Jessica and Joseph) of Arlington, Virginia.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Virgel and Louise, his wife Mary Jean and their son John Garrett Russell, the best and the brightest of us all, and a brother Wylie H. Russell.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00am, Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, at the First United Methodist Church located at 800 W. 5th St., Fort Worth, Texas.
Burial will follow in the Oakridge Section of the Greenwood Memorial Park Cemetery located at 3100 White Settlement Road, Fort Worth, Texas.
In lieu of flowers, the family would prefer donations be given to the First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, or the charity of your choice, in memory of John William Russell.