Joe Zant

1940 - 2018

ODESSA, TEXAS - Joe Zant, 78, of Odessa passed away to be with the Lord on Monday, August 13, 2018 in Odessa. Family and friends will gather to celebrate his life at a memorial service at 10:00 AM Friday, August 17, 2018 at McNett Funeral Home Chapel, 705 North Main Street, in Andrews with Pastor Jess Little of Sunset Heights Baptist Church in Odessa officiating. Cremation is under the personal care of McNett Funeral Home and private family inurnment will be at Trinity Memorial Park in Big Spring. Please celebrate his life by visiting www.mcnettfuneralhome.com. Joe was born on January 31, 1940 on the family farm in Vealmoor, Texas to Joe Pascal Zant and Annie Bailey Zant. He attended school in Forsan and Rankin. He joined the U.S. Army and was stationed at Camp Walters in Mineral Wells, where he started to learn to rope calves. He married Judy Darlene McCall on June 26, 1958 in Big Lake. They moved to Andrews in 1964, where he worked as a truck driver and a horse trader. They moved to Odessa in 1972, where he worked as a forklift operator and owned J & J Forklift until his death. His love was going to calf ropings and horse sales. He loved to train horses and would tell you he had the best horse at the roping. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother, James Zant, daughter in law, Sheila Maner Zant, and step mother, Carlene Zant.

Joe is survived by his wife, Judy Zant of Odessa, 2 sons, James Zant and wife, Jenny, of Shiner and Tommy Zant and wife, Sheila, of Odessa, granddaughter, Laramie Zant of Shiner and grandson, Wacey Zant of Morgan Mill, sister, Alice Drake of Andrews, and many nephews and nieces. Memorials may be sent to the Texas High School Rodeo Association (THSRA), PO Box, 224, Balmorhea, Texas 79718.