Janie Lee Carson

Janie Lee Carson, of Amarillo, Texas, passed away on March 10th, 2026. Janie had been at the Craig Senior Living Center for several years. It was there that God lifted her up while she was surrounded by her wonderful nurses, caregivers, and daughter, Sharla.

Janie was born February 9, 1930, in Electra, Texas, to Lloyd and Madeline Grisham.

The family moved to Odessa, Texas, when she was 9. She had one older sister named Sue. They joined the First Baptist Church, where Janie was baptized. Her dad was an oil field worker and moved his family to Clovis, N.M., where Janie completed high school and first trained as a telephone operator. It was there she met and married Jack E. Grundy in 1947. Jack and Janie had two daughters and a son. Jack was an electrician. He moved his family first to Albuquerque and later to Arvada, Colorado, where he passed away in 1963.

Janie moved her three young children to Amarillo, Texas, to be close to her parents. She continued her work as a telephone operator, working split shifts in order to care for her children. Janie remarried in 1966 to Chuck Carson.

Janie worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone for 37 years, retiring as a service assistant. In her later years at SWBT, Janie was a trainer. Her trainees fondly referred to her as “Momma Duck” as she paraded them single file through the operator boards. Her smile and fun personality were delightful. Janie enjoyed lifelong bonds with so many of her operator buddies; everyone loved “Goodie”, which was her nickname to them. Janie was a Lifetime Member of the CWA Union and Telephone Pioneers.

Upon retiring from the phone company, Janie started volunteering at BSA hospital in the gift shop. Janie loved giving gifts. She served 23 years helping families choose comfort items for their loved ones in the hospital, not to mention all the employees who came in to enjoy her smile and greetings. The family would tease that she had her own gift shop in a closet in her home; she never could resist a pretty or unique teapot.

Janie was a devout Southern Baptist. When her children were young, they were in church at Second Baptist every time the doors were open. Later, she became a longtime member of First Baptist Church, where you would see her and her handicapped son, Keith, every Sunday morning. Janie dedicated her life to caring for her special son, Keith; he has her same precious smile.

Janie enjoyed ceramics, oil painting, traveling, and playing cards with her many friends and the Texas Rangers.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands, and her sister and brother-in-law, Sue and Clarence Miller of Colorado Springs.

Survivors include her daughters, Linda Morlan and husband Rob of Manitou Springs, Sharla Jackson and husband Kit of Amarillo, and her son John Keith Grundy of Amarillo, a granddaughter Madeline Wells and husband Patrick of Colorado Springs, a grandson Ronnie Hamilton of Colorado Springs, five great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild, and her “other daughter” friend Nancy Conley.

There was a private family service. The family suggests memorials be made to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering at First Baptist Church in Amarillo.

The family would like to express our gratitude to all the nurses and staff at the Craig Assisted Living for providing the most loving, wonderful care for “sweet Janie”. Additionally, the compassionate and highly skilled staff of BSA Hospice Care of the Southwest made her final time on earth comfortable for her and her family.