Jefferson Alvoid Garrison, 71,Orange

Jefferson Alvoid Garrison, 71, passed away on July 8, 2024, in his lifelong hometown of Orangefield, Texas.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at Claybar Funeral Home in Bridge City, Texas. Visitation will be from 1pm until the ceremony starts at 2pm. Officiating the service will be Dr. Doak Burke D.C. of Orangefield, Texas, and Rev. M.L. Marcantell of Pinehurst Pentecostal Church. His loved ones will hold a private, family-only burial service in the Garrison cemetery he cared for during his life.

He was born in Orange, Texas, on May 14, 1953, to James and Ouida Garrison and made a name for himself through his accolades and pursuits at Orangefield High School. National Honor Society, Paper Staff, and John Philip Sousa Award. He continued playing trombone for the McNeese State Band, not knowing three of his children would follow in his footsteps.

If you can tell a lot about a man by how he cares for his tools, you don’t want to look in Jay’s shed. But chances are, if you dropped by the house at any time, Jay was mowing the yard. Or if you had his ear at a BBQ, you probably got swept up in a few larger-than-life stories. He knew how to suspend your disbelief for just a bit with his storytelling once he started, you were locked in for the ride whether you wanted or not. Maybe Jay passed in his resting bed at Stonewood Nursing Home, or maybe a tornado from Hurricane Beryl took him to Oz; you always had to decide how much truth was in Jay’s stories.

However, you could be sure Jay looked the same every time you saw him. Cloth shorts, tall white calf socks, and velcro shoes. Bucket hat with a permanent sweatband. His pocketknife and flashlight that deepened his Fruit of the Loom v-neck, and thick wire prescription glasses. Unless he had his Nomex still on from working at the chemical plants. Jay is now in peace with his parents, his brother, Clifton Stan Garrison, and his son, Christopher Garrison.

Carrying on his legacy, stories, and memories are his surviving family and friends. His wife, Virginia Garrison, his sister, Carsienne Harvey, his children, Jayna Rogers, Jayme Garrison, and Sunshine Garrison, his grandchild, Sebastian Rogers, and extended family.

Serving as pallbearers will be Jayna Rogers, Jayme Garrison, Sunshine Garrison, Jerome Rogers, Sebastian Rogers, Vashti Harvey.

If you’d like to honor Jay’s passing, take a look through your music collection, mow your yard, sharpen your pocketknife, get a game of 42 going, nap on the couch, hand a kid a map if they ask you ‘are we there yet?’, and make sure you have a go-bag ready for the hurricane season.