Jerry Clifton Bostick

Life Story (Obituary) for Jerry Clifton Bostick

Our dear father, Jerry Clifton Bostick, age 89, stepped into Heaven on Sunday Evening, January 4, 2026, with family by his side after a long struggle with declining health. Jerry was a man of strong faith, an excellent husband to his wife Joy, and a wonderful father to his two daughters. Jerry, affectionately known as GranJerry was a fun, adventurous grandfather to his two grandchildren. He was very active in his local church and community, serving as a Sunday School teacher for many years for young boys as well as a teacher in the church’s mission program for elementary-aged boys called Royal Ambassadors. Jerry humbly served as a deacon for many years at First Baptist Church – Roswell then again as a long-time member of Gateway Baptist Church. He also served as one of the ministry bus drivers for the Bus Mission program for many years at First Baptist. In his life-long occupation as a brick mason, he literally helped build Roswell during its growth years in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Born in West Texas and being raised on a working farm in the rural community of CeeVee, Texas, Cottle County, Jerry was proud to be a “country boy.” He was born to Robert Whitfield Bostick and Winnie Deel - Bostick on November 15, 1936, and was lovingly raised in a Christian home. Jerry was brought up with a strong work ethic and was taught responsibility from a very early age. Being raised on a 477-acre farm and cattle ranch, he was tasked with milking 4 dairy cows before school each morning, gathering the eggs from the hen house, and cleaning the milk / cream separator. He grew up with an awesome older sister, Winona Bostick - Furr who was also a loving, life-long friend.

Jerry came from an agrarian family that had worked land and raised and sold crops and cattle for generations. He always had the heart of a farmer and rancher, like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him. This passion for agriculture, farming and running cattle continued up until the age of 83 on his own family farms and ranch he cultivated in Roswell, New Mexico. Jerry’s community of Cee Vee, Texas was a bright community of faithful church goers and consisted of three churches: A Baptist church near the schoolhouse, a Methodist church on the hill, and an active Church of Christ. It was a rich community where neighbors helped each other survive the tough years, the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, as well as celebrate each other during abundant harvest years. Jerry’s dad Robert worked for other farmers until he saved enough to partner with Jerry’s grandfather, John, to each buy their own large farms as a partial sell-off and homesteading of the famed Mill Iron Ranch that expanded over 300,000 across the Panhandle plains. Jerry helped his dad and granddad build a herd of marketable Herford cattle on the new farm and ranch as well as terrace farm crops of prime cotton.

As a young man, Robert Bostick gifted his son Jerry his own 5 acres on the family farm to learn how to plant, harvest, and sell his own cotton crop. Because of how Robert demonstrated the morals and discipleship teachings of Christ Jesus, instead of pocketing the money for his own earthly means, Jerry prayed about it, and told his father he wanted to use his first earnings to buy new hymnals for their little country Baptist Church as the hymnals they had been using for decades were falling apart. Jerry served his local church by often leading the congregational singing with his long-time childhood friend, Virginia Smith, accompanying on the piano.

Jerry met the love of his life, Joy Ann Winton when they were both just 13, at a county circus near the area where they grew up. They lived in neighboring townships and went to high school together all four years in Paducah, Texas. When he wasn’t working on the farm for his family, Jerry enjoyed being involved in the high school’s FFA program and he earned the skill of being a competition judge for both cattle shows as well as granary competitions, learning the facts of a variety of West Texas native grasses, hay, and other grains cultivated to feed cattle and other livestock. Jerry also enjoyed riding the horses they raised to round up cattle and to ride fences to check where repairs were needed to keep the cattle herd safe.

Jerry amused his fellow classmates by telling stories of how he was going to work hard to gain Joy Ann Winton’s attention. He has shared with his family down through the years about “chasing that Irish redhead all through school until they finally started dating, then got engaged after Joy attended college. They married in September of 1957 at Joy’s local church, First Baptist of Paducah, Texas followed by an adventurous honeymoon to the gorgeous Grand Canyon, Arizona that included a plane ride over the raging Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon and sunset views of the red hues of the towering Canyon walls.

Soon after marrying, Jerry and Joy prayed together deciding to move to Roswell, New Mexico as a young couple where Jerry, beginning at age 15 had spent the summers staying with his favorite aunt and uncle and work summer construction jobs. After returning each Fall to his parents’ home in Texas where he continued helping on the farm before and after school, Jerry began to realize laying brick and rock patterns with mortar while building houses, banks, and churches was his real passion. It was then he decided this skill would be his career path at the age of 18. As his love for the beautiful Pecos Valley and its gorgeous agricultural environment along with the wide open arid but colorful terrain of Roswell grew, it became evident that New Mexico was where Jerry wanted to plant his new roots.

After moving to Roswell, Joy easily got a job in the office of Atlantic Richfield Oil Company and Jerry began his apprenticeship with a local brick mason.

It was early in their marriage that Jerry decided to enlist in the Army where he could continue his experience with a construction unit and serve his country at the same time as a strong American patriot. He joined the army in1962 and served at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas where he was quickly promoted to the rank of Sargent. Jerry initiated being on the construction crew at Ft. Chaffee to gain continued experience in construction methods. He then returned to Roswell to serve 5 ½ years for the New Mexico Army National Guard before being honorable discharged in 1968. After earning his contracting license, Jerry and Joy partnered to launch out and create their own company Bostick’s Masonry Construction where they hired an amazing crew of skilled bricklayers and hod-carriers. As their masonry construction business grew, Joy became the office manager basing the business out of the family home.

Jerry and Joy planned and started their family in 1963 with the birth of their first daughter, Jana Leigh (Bostick) Blewett, then had their second daughter Vicki Ann (Bostick) Blewett in 1965. Jerry and Joy had always planned to raise their girls on their own at home, so having a home business office afforded them that opportunity. Joy and Jerry were very involved in their girl’s education and supported their extracurricular activities from elementary school, through high school and into college.

Jerry was an avid quail and deer hunter and was thrilled that he could enjoy this sport with his best buddies, Stan Lair, Paul White, Alan Celoria, Jim Caddell, Gateway Pastor Clark Whitten as well as his two sons-in-law, Carlton Blewett and David Blewett and his grandson Christopher. Boy, are there some adventurous tales about hunting trips! The Texas domino game of “42” migrated to New Mexico as Joy and Jerry enlarged their circle of church friends and was enjoyed during family and friend gatherings with several of dad and his friends playing well into their 80’s.

Because agriculture was such an important part of his life, Jerry bought Joy and his two young girls a beautiful country home just outside of Roswell in 1967 from a local farmer, Virgil Grantham. The home included a fertile 30-acre farm where Jerry could enjoy plowing fields, growing and baling hay as well as raising horses and cattle. With Joy by his side, and in his “spare time,” Jerry totally remodeled and bricked the 100-year-old farmhouse. Jerry and his crew added two more brick and rock fireplaces, a large courtyard, a huge covered patio for entertaining, and a custom swimming pool. He even taught and trained his girls how to use the joint cleaning tool on the newly laid brick as well as how to tie the wire around each cross-section of the rebar that constructed the foundation of the new pool. In addition to learning responsibility by helping their mom set the table, help clean the dishes and take on other house chores, Jerry taught his girls early about the value of hard work and how to “earn their keep” by cleaning brick and hauling buckets of mortar for the house remodeling.

Throughout his Christian and family life, Jerry demonstrated immense generosity by sponsoring a city–wide girls’ softball league when Vicki was young, sponsoring church men’s softball teams, serving as a donor to share finances the Lord had provided him to start the building of Gateway Baptist Church, contribute to build other local churches and missionary start-ups, as well as offering financial support for mission, youth, and children’s programs. He felt the Lord blessed him to give to others and his life was evident of that.

Jerry spent lots of time outdoors, when not working, teaching his girls how to swim in the custom-made pool at their country home in Roswell. He bought the girls horses and taught them how to ride and enjoy riding a bike out on the surrounding country roads near their home. The girl’s enjoyed fishing in Ruidoso, northern New Mexico and Colorado with their dad, and raising sheep and cows on the farm. Jerry attended the girls’ piano recitals, band and chorus concerts, and special college homecoming events. Jerry enjoyed hiring and working with his daughter Vicki later in her career to assist Joy and even asked to attend a speech therapy session, with the patient’s permission, while Jana worked as a speech pathologist. Jerry requested to attend one of Jana’s college lectures when she was a Clinical Professor at Arizona State University. Jerry was supportive of his daughters in all their endeavors.

Jerry and Joy prioritized their family time and strategically planned annual vacations with their girls that included education of America’s history, the country’s vast topography, adventures, and fabulous fun. Their early years involved spectacular trips to California’s golden beaches, ocean fun, Disneyland, and a memorable trip to Alaska. The trips to Yellowstone, Washington DC, New York, and Florida were all packed with lessons on American history, how the U.S., government functions, and forest and sea life science.

Jerry and his wife ran the family construction company and later, Bostick’s Fireplace Specialty Shop for over 45 years in Roswell. Many of Roswell’s city officials frequently commented that Jerry literally helped “build Roswell.” Jerry and his company’s hard work included brick and block work he and his crew laid on many of Roswell’s historically significant icons.

Jerry was humbled to be hired to build Gateway Baptist Church (now Gateway Church International and Gateway Christian School) along with Mr. RJ Dodson of Dodson Wholesale Lumber Company. Many of the charter church members volunteered their time to work on the construction site in addition to the members who were skilled and hired to complete the roofing, plumbing, and interior of the church. Jerry built and bricked many of the homes in Roswell both small and large, plus hundreds of custom fireplaces in Roswell, Ruidoso, Artesia and Hobbs. He was honored to be selected to block and lay the beautiful brick on the famed New Mexico Military Institute Chapel (where both of his daughters were married.) Jerry and his crews bricked many of the other notable facilities on the NMMI campus including the Military Science building plus several of the newer barracks housing the cadets. He built additions to First Baptist Church, bricked Tabernacle Baptist Church of Roswell, as well as many of the banks and supplemental bank branches located in Roswell and Artesia.

Later semi-retiring, Jerry and Joy continued running their fireplace shop until retiring in 2000 and Jerry enjoyed the Brangus Cattle business into 2012, even being a key initiator in starting the first Brangus Cattle Auction and Sale way back in the 1990’s in Roswell that still operates today at our local Roswell Sale Ring. He and his fellow Brangus cattlemen enjoyed taking their wives along to attend the annual Houston Brangus Show for many years.

With as busy as their lives were, the thirst for travel evolved in the late 1990’s with a desire to begin camping with their church friends. As a couple, Jerry and Joy embarked on regional trips with a 5th-Wheel Camper that took them all throughout the Southwest from Texas, to visiting their daughter and her family in Arizona, up to Colorado, and into the beautiful mountains of northern New Mexico.

The highlights of their many travels with friends included a tour of the Holy Land with RJ and Dorothy Dodson, enjoying Hawaii and Alaska fishing trips with Marilyn and Stan Lair, and traveling England and Scotland with their high school friends, Marion and Garland McClendon.

It was during the later part of their traveling and camping years that it became evident that Joy was experiencing an onset of health problems for the very first time. Jerry sold the Recreational Camper but was still able to take Joy up to Ruidoso to enjoy the family cabin. Jerry dedicated himself to caring for his wife for over 7 years independently with the support of his two daughters and their husbands until private caregivers and health agencies were needed. Just as he had excelled in working hard during his career, he diligently provided for and cared for his wife, who had worked side by side with him building their businesses and raising their girls and enjoying their grandchildren. Jerry continued to run the family home with the assistance of his girls and various caregivers until Joy passed away at the age of 83 in 2020 of natural causes.

In the years following Joy’s passing, Jerry continued to stay very active, working on his farm, faithfully attending his Bible Class and worship services at First Baptist, then later attending Christ’s Church worship services with his daughter Jana and her husband, and continuing to meet every Friday, as his health would permit, with “The Gang” for lunch, a group mom and dad started 25 years ago with many of their long-time Christian friends who had retired. Those friends included the Lairs, Moores, Bushes, Parsons, Rabys, Jones, and other couples throughout the years. Jerry enjoyed managing his farm properties which he leased out toward the end of his life, with his daughters’ assistance.

Jerry was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Joy Ann (Winton) Bostick, his parents, Robert and Winnie Bostick, his sister Winona Furr. Jerry is survived by his oldest daughter Jana Blewett and her husband Carlton now of Roswell, New Mexico, his youngest daughter Vicki Blewett and her husband David of Roswell, New Mexico; his grandson Christopher Robert Blewett and his wife Rebecca of Frisco, Texas; granddaughter Bethany Blewett of Carrollton, Texas; brother-in-law Bill Winton of Goldthwaite, Texas along with several nephews and nieces.

The Christian values of faith, dedication to family, an honest day’s work, and immense generosity were the hallmarks of Jerry’s life well-lived. We ask that those who respected and loved and knew Jerry well join us at his Celebration of Life memorial service at Christ’s Church – Roswell, 2200 N. Sycamore Ave. on Saturday, January 17th at 10:00 a.m. followed by the graveside service at South Park Cemetery, Roswell, NM.

Pall Bearers for Jerry’s service are: Christopher Blewett, Rick Furr, Gary Furr, Tracy Winton, Todd Winton, and Larry Winton.

Honorary Pall Bearers are Carlton Blewett, David Blewett, Paul White, Stan Bush, Dave Parsons, Bill Winton, and Alan Celoria.

This obituary was lovingly written by Jerry’s family.