John Lee Doughty Jr.

John Lee Doughty, Jr.

Funeral services for John Lee Doughty, Jr., age 71 of Tullos, Louisiana will be held at 2:00 p.m. July 5, 2014 from the chapel of Hixson Brothers Funeral Home in Jena, Louisiana. Interment will follow at Chalk Hill Cemetery.

Visitation will be 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm Friday, July 4, 2014 at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home in Jena, Louisiana.

Junior was born November 14, 1942 in Urania, Louisiana and passed from this life July 1, 2014 at Hardtner Medical Center in Olla, Louisiana. Junior grew up in Tullos, Louisiana and often proudly stated that he had "lived most of his life on the 120 acres his great grandfather had homesteaded in 1907." He graduated from LaSalle High School in 1960. In 1962, he enlisted in the US Navy where he served as a Fire Control Technician aboard the USS Lawrence, DDG4. He operated and repaired the ship's MK 118 guided missile computers until his discharge in 1966. Junior returned to Louisiana and in 1967 he began work for IBM as a Customer Engineer repairing and maintaining computers out of their Alexandria, Louisiana offices. In 1976 he opened the Azalea Convenience Store in his hometown of Tullos. In 1995, Junior graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in anthropology from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

In 1997, Junior launched a website devoted to Mississippi Delta Music and Culture. He did so as a way to share his deep love of blues music and as a way to chronicle his journeys along the "blues highway." "Junior's Juke Joint" www.deltablues.net, became that and more. In 1997, Junior proudly assisted with and was featured in the YellowCat Productions documentary "Juke." In 2000 CNN featured Junior and the website in the segment "A Virtual Journey Through Juke Joints." Additionally, the website would go on to win several accolades, among them The Smithsonian Institutions' National Anthropological Archives "Most Entertaining Online Ethnography," August 2002. Through the site, Junior made several life long friends and was provided a both a local and worldwide stage for his expertise and knowledge of the subject. He served on a number of grant award committees and gave several presentations on the subject to local groups. Among his favorites was a presentation given to a local Boy Scouts of America troop about music and the local roots of blues.

Junior was also webmaster at "The Frugal Outdoorsman" www.castbullet.com where he shared his abiding love of the outdoors, hunting, shooting sports and the art of reloading ammunition. An amazing chef, he also shared a great number of his favorite recipes there as well.

Junior was widely known as a passionate and gifted story teller. Whether in written or oral form, his innate ability to bring the listener or reader along with him on the journey was a joy. His gift for writing led to his being asked to co-teach a creative writing course at the University of Massachusetts- Dartmouth. It became one of the most popular online courses ever offered by the university affording Junior the opportunity over the course of the 19 classes he co-taught to mold and nurture the writing of hundreds of students. His enthusiasm for the students and their writing was evident and he was looking forward beginning his 20th class this January.

Junior leaves behind a host of friends and family who will miss him sorely. His lasting legacy will be the love, friendship and knowledge he bestowed upon them while he was here.

Junior is preceded in death by his father, John Lee Doughty, Sr., his mother, Georgia Hanes Doughty and his nephew, David Scott Doughty.

Those left to cherish his memory include his daughter, Kimberly Doughty Ganey and husband, Mike of Tyler, Texas; his sister, Kathryn Doughty Tyler of Tullos, Louisiana; his brothers, Robert A. Doughty and wife, Diane of Natchitoches, Louisiana and David W. Doughty of Columbia, Louisiana; his beloved granddaughter Claire Ganey; his nephews Chad Doughty and wife Nikki of Tullos, Louisiana; Mike Doughty of Brooklyn, New York; Kevin Doughty of New York, New York; great nephews Haden Doughty and Beau Doughty of Tullos, Louisiana.

Pallbearers will be Mike Allbritton, Bruce Bonneau, Mike Doughty, Mike Ganey, Jonathan Hardin and Henry Maxwell.

Honorary Pallbearers will be Paul Doughty, Larkin Jones and Glen Roark.

Any planned memorials may be made in Junior's memory to The Alzheimer's Association 3445 N. Causeway Blvd, Suite 902, Metairie, LA 70002 or The Delta Blues Museum 1 Blues Alley PO Box 459 Clarksdale MS 38614.

To extend online condolences to the Doughty family, please visit at www.hixsonbrothers.com