Harry George

Funeral services for Mr. Harry George, 86, of Linden, Texas, will be 1:00 p.m. Thursday, December 11, 2025, in the chapel of Reeder-Davis Funeral Home in Linden. Burial will follow Savannah Cemetery. There will be a time of visitation with family and friends from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

Harry Earby George was born on July 10, 1939, in Blanket, Texas, and grew up in East Texas, where he graduated from Jefferson High School. He passed away surrounded by family after a courageous battle with cancer. Though his earthly journey has ended, the legacy he leaves behind is immeasurable written in laughter, hard work, fierce love, and a lifetime of unforgettable stories.

Harry met the love of his life, Jean, long before their move to Linden or the Ben Franklin Store. She was a cashier at Wyatt's, and he worked next door at Lloyd's Variety Store which had a soda fountain. Jean would stop in for a drink, and one day Harry simply walked up and said "hi"- and that was it. His version of the story, always told with a grin, was that he saw her walking and swore her hips hit both sides of the aisle, and at that moment he knew he was going to marry her. Later, when Jean worked for him at Ben Franklin, she called him "Mr. George" at work, and the other cashiers became convinced he was having an affair-never realizing she was his wife. Harry always loved that story.

Together, Harry and Jean were a force of nature; bold, creative, and fun. When they moved to Linden in 1972, they opened the Ben Franklin Store, The Royalty Inn Restaurant, and The Coffee Shop, shaking up the town with ideas nobody had seen before. Harry once put Jean and their daughter in full-body bunny costumes for Easter to advertise baby chicks and turtles for sale. Earlier, when he opened Ben Franklin in Albuquerque, he rented a helicopter and dropped ping-pong balls for the grand opening. Linden, he liked to say, would have lost his mind if he'd tried that there.

Though he eventually sold all the businesses, Harry had already begun working construction-days at the Ashdown paper mill and nights at the restaurant-before moving fully into his decades-long career in plant construction. He worked at A&E Fab Shop (Lonestar Steel), Brown & Root–Eastman, Kellogg–Eastman, and on numerous plant construction projects. He had the mind of an engineer and a natural talent for solving complex problems. He drew schematics and plant expansions first by hand, then with CAD software, which he later continued to use just for fun. His plans rarely needed corrections-his precision and skill earned deep respect in the industry. And he loved helping his kids with math homework, especially geometry and algebra.

He rededicated his life to Christ on October 30, 2016, a moment of great peace and clarity late in life.

Harry was a man of many passions. He loved to cook-especially Cajun food, and no one could match his chicken-fried steak, not even Jean, who was an exceptional cook herself. He loved traveling to New Orleans and to Sandia Crest in New Mexico. He loved being outdoors-fishing, camping, and spending time on the water-mostly because Jean loved it. She would shake him awake in the middle of the night insisting one of the yo-yos or trotlines had snapped, and he needed to go check it "because this time there was definitely a big one on the line." He'd go, every time.

After Jean passed away in 2003, he continued their tradition of fishing with the grandkids. An assortment of grandkids were his fishing buddies for years; One of the family's favorite memories is a grandkid jumping into the lake to save the boat when Harry accidentally launched it without the plug. Her phone didn't survive, but the boat did-and the story became a family classic.

Harry was deeply involved in the Linden community. He played Santa for many years. He created the first haunted house for the Lions Club, which eventually became a full Halloween carnival. He volunteered with the fire department and flipped pancakes at their fundraisers. He built the BBQ pit for the school's band boosters-one that is still around today. And after the Lions Club ended the carnival, Jean and Cherri began decorating their yard for Halloween, an effort that grew into a full family tradition with friends, neighbors, and even costumed strangers helping. Harry worried someone would get scared and fall and they'd all get sued-but he supported it anyway because he loved Jean, and she loved doing it.

As a father, Harry was firm but fair, the kind of dad who made you cut your own switch but also came back later to comfort you, love you, and remind you that you were cherished. He protected his girls fiercely. To them, he hung the moon. Family was everything to him. He survived a house full of girls-daughters, a granddaughter, and even female pets-and loved to joke that God knew exactly what He was doing giving him daughters. "If I'd had sons like me," he'd say, "I might've killed them." That joke gained new meaning once he had grandsons.

He loved working with his grandsons on Boy Scout cars, and their cars always won. While other dads paid for fancy designs, Harry and the boys showed up with plain wood cars that kept beating everyone else. When people begged for his secret, he'd just shrug and say, "It's the weight placement and making the front end lower than the back." When none of his grandsons were in Scouts, he built cars for other kids. That was who he was-always helping, always giving.

He loved his friends with a fierce loyalty and was known for colorful expressions-especially his famous "DAMNITBOY," a phrase heard on job sites all over East Texas. One of his daughters once met a man on a cruise who used the same expression; it turned out he had worked with Harry.

Above all, Harry loved Jean. She was his true partner, his match in spirit and mischief, his steady companion, and the love of his life.

Harry was an honest, hardworking man with a generous heart, sharp wit, and deep love for his family. He was a fierce friend, a devoted husband, a proud father, and a Papa who made sure every grandchild felt special. His life was rich with laughter, adventure, mischief, and love. He left the world better than he found it, full of people who will miss him dearly and remember him always.

Harry was preceded in death by: His mother, Opal Mae Cox George, father, Stuart Allen George, brother Donald George, sister Jo Fern George Dennis, his sons-in-law Lynn Bunn and Richard Thomas, his best friend Hayden Lee-his real-life "Grumpy Old Men" counterpart-and his beloved idol, Uncle Clarence Cox.

He is survived by his three daughters: Cherri Bunn of Linden; Kathy Thomas of Linden; Kim Smith of Dallas

Grandchildren: Sonny Ray Burns of Linden; Justin Bunn & wife Christina of Linden; Travis Lavaughen Cason II & wife Amy of Canyon City, CO; Cory Cason of Linden; James Kensington Metcalf & wife Tiffany of Linden; Harry Smith of Dallas; Shelby Smith of Nacogdoches

He also leaves 16 great-grandchildren, 8 great-great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews, all of whom he loved deeply.

In lieu of special sentiments, please consider a donation to the American Cancer Society.