Jerry Don Sturdivant

Jerry Don Sturdivant peacefully went to meet the Lord on August 24th, at the age of 85, in the care and love of his daughter April, and just after a visit from his devoted son Travis.

He was born into this life, October 25th, 1939 in Paducah Texas, to his parents Johnny and Gladys Sturdivant. His sister Betty Jo and brother Coy share many memories of those early days. Jerry always thought he might pass away young, like his father before him, but Jerry’s family was blessed with many wonderful years filled with countless memories made together.

Jerry was a kind, easy-going man, with a quick wit and a very dry sense of humor. He was funny, without trying to be. His stories were entertaining, and his family loved hearing them over and over again through the years.

He married Olivia Blackwelder from Wink, Texas, and he is survived by two children - Travis Sturdivant and April Jilek of Lubbock, and 5 grandchildren, Cheyene, Hunter, Seree, Brielle, and Bruin.

He was educated, earning a degree from North Texas University in GeoPhysics. He spent his career in the oil and gas industry, in geological research - in Midland, Tx. He enjoyed his work, and those he worked with, excelling at GeoSearch, where he spent most of his career researching and providing speculators with important data on where oil might be.

Jerry found joy in the simple pleasures of life, he was a simple man. He was a man of habit, mornings were spent drinking his coffee, and reading the paper. If he found a shirt he liked, he bought 10 of them - making his wardrobe decisions quite easy. He enjoyed long drives up into the Colorado mountains. When finally reaching a destination, he and Travis would drop a line into quiet streams, where the goal was really the drive and the time together, never the fish. He drove his old van for many years, and then he drove the “new van” (same make and model) for the next 20 years, until Travis said he had to stop calling it the “new van.”

He enjoyed almost daily conversations with April while she lived in Wisconsin, and she moved back to Texas to care for him. His five grandchildren were a source of pride and amusement.

To honor Jerry’s life, there will be a very fitting simple graveside service following this viewing.

Friends and family are invited to celebrate his life in this simple way he lived. He will be buried in Kermit cemetery near his wife Olivia and surrounded by other family members.

Jerry will be greatly missed by all who knew him, but all take comfort knowing he is reunited with family and in the arms of the Lord.

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Thank you for coming.

Just visualize Jerry for a minute - wrangler jeans, a blue button down shirt (that he had 10 of), his straw cowboy hat, wearing a a slight smile, with a toothpick hanging out of one corner of his mouth (his “dessert”). Right now he would look at you, the people he loved, and say, “Not to worry.”