Welcome
With the retirement of Carter and Marcia Stewart and the sale of Carter Stewart
Funeral Service, Jerry Don and Donna Henry have assumed ownership of the funeral
home in Hollis and renamed the location, Harmon County Funeral Home.
No stranger to Harmon County, Jerry Don’s parents owned a section of land three
miles north of McQueen several years ago. He spent many hours plowing, irrigating
wheat and running cattle just west of Homer and Johnnie Simmons’ home.
The son of Billy Robert and Wanda Sue (Fails) Henry, Jerry Don was born in Altus
while his dad was high school principal and coach at Eldorado. Bill, the only child
of Tom and Ray Henry, was born and raised near the Victory community and played
on the Victory Bears State Basketball Team. Sue was born at Jester, Oklahoma to
Tom and Juanita Fails and went to school at Eastview in Greer County. Some of Jerry
Don’s fondest memories were spending time at Uncle Tol and Aunt Daisy Fails’ home
near Jay Buckle. Reared on the farm near the Olustee “Y”, west of Altus, Jerry Don
and his brother, Jim Bob, who was killed in a truck accident in 2001, knew what
hard work was like. Even though Bill was a teacher for forty-two years and Sue taught
for twenty-seven years, they were farmers and ranchers at heart.
At the age of seventeen, Jerry Don began working for Lowell Funeral Home in Altus
while also working for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. After sixteen years
in law enforcement he obtained a bachelors degree in elementary education and taught
school for fifteen years. Through the years he worked part-time in funeral service,
but after the tragic death of his good friend, Trooper Nik Green, in December 2003,
he left the teaching profession and went back to college, graduating with a bachelors
degree in Mortuary Science from the University of Central Oklahoma. In 2005, he
began full-time work with Lowell-Tims Funeral Home in Altus, Greer Funeral Homes
in Mangum and Granite and Patterson-Greer Funeral Home in Hollis. On June 5, 1981,
he and Donna Long of Elmer, Oklahoma were married and they will celebrate thirty
years together this June.
A former Altus city councilman for twelve years and a former deacon at the Elm and
Hudson Church of Christ, Jerry Don and his family have placed their membership with
the Mangum Church of Christ and are active in many community projects. Jerry Don
and his wife, Donna, a school library media specialist in Altus, have three daughters.
Kerri is a senior nursing student at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond, Jaimie,
an occupational therapist major at Weatherford and Kadi who is a sophomore at Altus
High School.
The Henrys look forward to meeting and getting to know many more people in Harmon
County. If the need arises, Jerry Don’s cell number is 580-471-5035. He can be reached
most anytime other than being in a funeral service or meeting with a family.