Jeannette "Jae" Varner Hughes

Jeannette Varner “Jae” Hughes, of Fairfield, passed away on Monday, April 13, 2015, at the Cancer Treatment Center of America, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she had been making her brave fight against the cancer she had battled the past two years. Her battle ended Monday, at age 46. Visitation will be held at Groesbeck Funeral Home on Friday, April 17, 2015, from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, April 18, 2015, in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Pastor Randy Ayres officiating. Burial will follow in Cotton Gin Cemetery, (between Mexia and Teague.) Pallbearers will be Jeremy Jones, James Wayne Halford, Taylor Hughes, Clyde Beasley, Brett Hughes, and Mike Poole. Jae was born July 27, 1968 to Everett Hurst, Sr. and Alice Conner Hurst in Houston. She grew up in Houston, until moving to Groesbeck when she was 15, and she graduated from Groesbeck High School in 1986. Jae was married to James Wayne Halford on December 31, 1983. In 1986 they moved to Vernon where they lived until 1990, when they moved back to the Thornton and Groesbeck area. They had four daughters together, and Jae was a full-time wife, mother and homemaker. She devoted every minute to her family and provided a very loving and well-structured home-life for them. She may have been tough but she was a great mom. Jae moved to Fairfield in 2009 and was united in marriage with Corey Hughes on May 19, 2012. Her girls and his son and daughter became a family. She helped Corey build their house and loved working in the yard. She was a lover of outdoors, animals, and the beach. She loved her grandchildren and was “Nay-Nay” (not grandma). She had a great sense of humor, always putting funny things on facebook; she played “Candy Crush” on facebook daily with daughter Jennifer, and was treated to a call every Wednesday morning from grandson Ryker with the Geico commercial for “hump-day.” Jae had a smile that would light up the world, and was positive and happy spirited. She did her best to keep her family upbeat during her personal battle with cancer, and during her many trips to CTCA in Tulsa the past year. One way was calling them with her “silly chipmunk voice.” She was a member of the Word of Life Church in Groesbeck, and attended even while living in Fairfield. Jae was preceded in death by her mother, Alice Hurst; grandmother, Leassie Honea; grandfather, Bill Honea; grandfather, Lloyd Hurst; and father-in-law, Merl Gager. She is survived by her husband, Corey Hughes of Fairfield; daughters: Heather Jones and her husband, Jeremy of Whitehouse, Jennifer Halford and Nikki Herren of Thornton, Elisa Halford of Whitehouse, Amber Halford of Fairfield, Erika Beasley and her husband Clyde of Elkhart; son and daughter-in-law, Taylor and Alesha Hughes of Florida; and eleven grandchildren: Kelsi, Ryker, Cameron, Hunter, Ashlyn, Cami, Payton, Camden, Jayden, Autumn, and Jaycee. She also leaves behind her father and step-mother, Everett and Melva Hurst, Sr. of Teague; mother-in-law, Donna Gager of Plainville, KS; grandmother, Nadine Hurst of Groesbeck; brothers, Rusty Hurst of Fairfield and Everett Hurst, Jr. of Groesbeck; sister, Marie Hurst of Teague; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Brett and Shawna Hughes of Hoisington, KS; many nieces, nephews and other extended family; dogs, Bear and Gizzy; and Natasha Wasylyszyn, who was a life-long friend of Jae and “aunt” to her girls.