Jack Culpepper

Reginald Earl (Jack) Culpepper, 83, Emerald Bay, Bullard, TX after living a full life of experiences passed away peacefully near sunrise on August 10, 2022, at UT Health Hospital in Tyler, TX.  He was born in Oklahoma City, OK to James M. Culpepper and Mary Mildred (Page) Culpepper.

Services will be Saturday, August 13, at Meridian Cemetery. There will be a short visitation and viewing at Lawson Funeral Home Chapel in Meridian starting at 10 AM followed by a graveside service at 11 AM at Meridian Cemetery with military honors.

Jack was raised on the family farm between Meridian and Walnut Springs where he lived also with his grandparents, Earl and Mary Ruth Leslie Page. He attended Walnut Springs schools initially and finished at Meridian where he was the QB and Mr. MHS Class of ’57. He attended NTSU and got his first job of truck driving. He enlisted in the US Army with Basic and AIT at Fort Leonard Woods. He was assigned to USASA Menwith Hills Station near Harrogate, Yorkshire, England.

There he met and married Heather McKee, daughter of Peggy and William E. McKee, former British paratrooper 1st Airborne in WWII on November 9, 1963; they were married for 58 plus years. After honorable discharge, he came back to Texas with his new bride and eventually settled in as a chicken farmer on his uncle Pete Page’s ranch between Morgan and Kopperl. A serial entrepreneur, he then started a poultry hauling business in Meridian and a paper recycling business in Dallas, where the family moved to Red Oak in ‘77. He served as a school board member both at Meridian and Red Oak ISD. Later with an empty nest, Jack and Heather moved near St. Augustine, Florida where his love of travel led him back into truck driving and became a multi-million-mile driver with no accidents. Given that he did not know a stranger, he made a good many friends all over the US to go with his many friends from school and the Army that maintained contact throughout the years. Upon retirement, they moved to Lake Palestine near Bullard TX and family. He has been a lifelong Christian as a member of Methodist churches in Walnut Springs, Kopperl, Meridian, Red Oak, Wheatland-Dallas, Palatka, FL, and Bullard.

He is remembered with love by his wife, Heather M. Culpepper; son Bill Culpepper and his wife, Amy, of Whitehouse, TX; son, John Culpepper, and his wife, Dena, of Bullard; daughter Mary English and her husband Jason, of Red Oak, TX; grandchildren Brad Culpepper and his wife, Megan; Josh Culpepper and his wife, Sarah; Chelsea, Alison, and Kelly Culpepper; Courtney Permenter and her husband, Alex Permenter; Carly English and Erin Elise Culpepper. In addition, the current headcount of great grandchildren, whom he loved dearly and loved to watch swim in the pool, play sports, dance, and other extracurricular activities, stands at a dozen.

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Breckenridge Village of Tyler.

https://breckenridgevillage.com/donate/

Arrangements were entrusted to Lawson Funeral Home, Meridian, Texas 254-435-2792.