Jessie Juanita Stewart

Jessie Juanita Stewart, of Whitney, passed away on Tuesday, January 11, 2011, at the Hillcrest Baptist Hospital in Waco, at age 84. Visitation will be Friday, January 14, 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. at the Groesbeck Funeral Home. Funeral services will be at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, January 15, 2011, at the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Rev. Tracy Sims officiating. Burial will follow at Faulkenberry Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Shannon Hart, Tommy Morton, Dickie Horton, John Stewart, Danny Stewart, and Jason Stewart. Jessie was born on February 2, 1926, to Ike Horton and Myrtle (Powell) Horton at Mexia. She grew up in Mexia, and at the young age of 17, she was united in marriage with Billy Stewart from Groesbeck. Part of their life together, in the fifties, she lived in Oklahoma while he traveled with Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys’ Band, where he played bass fiddle. She was great friends with Hanks’ wife, Dorothy and they had good times together. Jessie and Billy loved to hunt and fish and dance while they were young. She worked as a secretary and an insurance adjuster in Dallas for over thirty years, retiring in 1991. They moved to Whitney, by the lake, in 1967. When Billy became ill, her sister, Grace moved in with them to help her care for him and their mother. The two sisters lived together in Whitney the rest of her life. She was a member of the Fort Graham Baptist Church in Whitney. Jessie was a “people person” who was loved by all who knew her; she was kind-hearted, had a great humor, and was willing to do what anyone else wanted to do. She loved playing Wahoo, 42, doing crossword puzzles and watching TV (that she called the idiot box.) She loved being picked on by her nephew, Steve, who she called her “Baby Boy” since she did not have any children. He called her “Auntee Mikie” (from the commercial of “Mikie will eat anything.”) Jessie loved trips to eat out, and in general loved life. The family feels they have lost a great loved one and a precious gift, but the world also lost a grand person. Jessie was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Billy Stewart in 2001; two sisters, Beatrice Pettigrew and Ruth Goodwin; and three brothers-in-law, Bobby Stewart, John Lee Stewart, and Donald Stewart. She is survived by her sister, Grace Hart of Whitney; brother, Jack Horton of Dallas; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Bennett and Ida Stewart of Groesbeck; sister-in-law, Mary Beth Stewart of Groesbeck; sister-in-law, Maxine Stewart of Round Rock; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Nelda and Leroy Stark of Mansfield; and numerous nieces and nephews.