Houston Thomas Jarvis Jr.

Funeral Services for Houston Thomas Jarvis Jr. will be held on Sunday, July 27, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. from Dekalb Baptist Church with Bro. James Ruffin and Bro. Chris Gully officiating. Interment will follow in the Salem Baptist Church Cemetery. Visitation will be held at Dekalb Baptist Church from 1:00 pm until service time.

Houston was born and raised in Kemper County, Mississippi, and his heart never left it. He graduated in 1959 from Lynville High School, and he was ordained as a Baptist minister. As a young man, he moved to the Detroit, Michigan area and worked in middle management for United Parcel Service a number of years. But the simpler life of Kemper County called him back home, and in 1975, he moved his family to DeKalb, to the same house he had grown up in. Houston went to work logging with draft horses the way he had learned from his father. He said that when he was working in the woods with his big horses, he could actually feel God’s pleasure upon him. He continued logging until he was 73 years old. His sweetest joys in life were spending time with his wife and family, working with his beloved horses, and leading the music at church. His greatest calling was studying and sharing the word of God with others up until the time of his death. 

He is preceded in death by his parents, Houston “Bud” Jarvis, Sr. and Eloyse Fulton Jarvis; and a brother, William “Bill” Jarvis. 

He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Ethel Burkes Jarvis; a brother, Ollie Burkes (Judy); two sisters, Jeanie Jarvis Kilpatrick and Carol Peeler Jarvis; children, sherry, Lynn, Fox (Jerry), Dave Thomas (Terri), and Kathy Thomas Owen (Richard); grandchildren, Charles “Jamie”Winright IV (Erika), Kelly Thomas Bertone (Cara), Alicia Thomas Goldapple (Chris), and Will Kommor (Courtney); six great grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, and other loved ones.

Pallbearers will be Joe Rush, Joe VanDevender, Jim Hobgood, Johnny Hooks, Albert Gully, and Mark Robertson. Gene MacArthur will be an honorary pallbearer.

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