Jimmy R. “Jim” Wingo

Funeral services for Jimmy R. “Jim” Wingo will be held 10:00 AM, Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at the Hale’s Memorial Chapel in Davis, with Pastor Roger Sims officiating. Interment will follow at the Hennepin Cemetery.

Jim was born October 7, 1934, at the family home in Hennepin, to the late Broadus L. and Lillian E. (Jones) Wingo. He died Friday, March 6, 2020, at his home in Hennepin, at the age of 85 years, 4 months and 29 days. Jim and the former Ms. Jackie Lynne (Thomasson) Whiteaker were married on May 1, 2009, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Jim grew up in Hennepin and attended school at Hennepin Grade School, and then Woodland High School, graduating in 1953. As a youth he worked with his father on the family farm. Following high school, he worked managing a farm in the Hennepin area. From there he took a position as a supervisor for the Joe Brown Company, where he worked for approximately 11 years. He then moved his family to the Dougherty area, where they lived for a few years prior to returning home to Hennepin. He returned to the family homeplace to the life of farming and ranching that he so loved.

Jim was a quiet, thinking man. His mind was always busy, even when he appeared to be at rest. He never had much to say and when asked why he would say he was listening because he could learn more that way. He was well respected in the community, throughout Southern Oklahoma as a fountain of knowledge about anything farming. Jim was a master in working with hydraulics. He was also an inventor, creating and building more than one piece of farm equipment to make his job easier. He was very loyal and dedicated, upholding his word through to the end. He was honest, humble, and caring.

Jim joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard and served as a SP4 from 1958 through 1964. He was a member of the Hennepin Volunteer Fire Dept from its inception, an honorary member of the Davis FFA, and a fierce champion of anything Hennepin.

Jim never really retired. As a matter of fact, he continued working and managing his farm/ranch until shortly before his death. Until very recently, he would get up early every day to go to coffee at the Hennepin Community Center and then go to have breakfast at the cafe. Jim’s passion was in harvesting pecans, planting, cutting, baling and selling alfalfa, blue stem and other varieties of hay, raising cattle, and his special pastime, growing gardens.

Jim was a giving man. He was always helping out in and around the community. He gave land to a local church, purchased land in the downtown area so he could keep the grass cut and looking nice. He also gave others money, equipment, time, gravel, and topsoil, just to name a few of the many items that were needed. Many people in the community and area were recipients of his generosity.

He would plant and grow large vegetable gardens and even larger melon patches. When the produce would ripen and was harvested, he would load it in his pickup and deliver it to people in the community and surrounding area. He loved watching plants grow and every year he would plant some kind of unusual vegetable or melon just “to see what it would be like.” He took a lot of pride in the harvest that would come forth. When asked why he didn’t ever take any of the surplus vegetables and melons to sell at the Farmer’s Market he would say very sternly, “NO, that is not why I grow it.”

Survivors include his loving wife Jackie; two daughters, Janie Johnston and husband Steve of Hennepin, OK and Kathy Fox and husband Steve of Ardmore, OK; two step-daughters, Laura Gainey and husband Michael of Long Island, NY and Rebekah Robertson and husband Harold of Purcell, OK; three grandchildren Jeremy Jacks and wife Connie, Neil Melton and wife Kendra and Alia Johnston; six step-grandchildren, Matthew Fox and wife Emily, Kate Baldwin and husband Jimmy, Cody Johnston, and Della, Waylon and Walker Robertson; and six great-grandchildren, Kyla, Kian, Rylan, Conner, Brayson and Jacen.

In addition to his parents, Jim was preceded in death by one sister, Patricia Fisher; and two brothers, Joe Wingo and Bob Wingo.

Serving as pallbearers will be WR Howard, Johnny Warren, Rick Whitehead, Brandon Barnes, Jimmy Chronister, and Mike Anderson. Honorary Pallbearers will be Ron Morton, Ron Tillery, Dennis Norton, Larry Lee, Dick Jones and Don Webb.

The family will receive friends Tuesday evening, March 10, 2020, from 5 -7PM, at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Hennepin Cemetery Association, PO Box 53 or the Hennepin Fire Department, PO Box 36, Hennepin, OK 73444.