Bert Jarrell

S/Sgt. Bert W. Jarrell USAF SS NSA 6981st Wing, Baltimore, Maryland Bert Wayne Jarrell, born October 23, 1934 in Merryville, Louisiana and went to be with The Lord on June 2, 2015 after a battle with cancer in New Caney, Texas.. He is predeceased by his parents Ben J. Jarrell and Bertie Mae Taylor Jarrell, brother, Bobbie Jarrell and sisters Bennie Mae Jarrell and Betty Rose Jarrell Loftin, and his first wife and his children’s mother, Barbara Ann Burch Jarrell. He is survived by his wife, Sharon Jarrell of Cleveland, Texas, five children, Ben and Wanda Jarrell of DeQuincy, Lousiana, Bert and Teresa Jarrell of Nevada Missouri, Mike and Charlotte Jarrell of Merryville, Louisiana, Pat Jarrell of Merryville, Louisiana and Lydia Jarrell Bean of Newton, Texas, a sister, Billie and husband, Larry Chellette of Lake Charles, LA, numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and a nephew, and three step-daughters and their families, Carrie and James Hendrix of Dallardsville, Texas, Kelly and Charles Guion and Amanda and Doug Phillips of Cleveland, Texas. He felt his greatest accomplishment was raising his family, and, he loved his service career and enjoyed talking about his experiences and the friends he made while in the service. He loved recalling events of his childhood - his family home on the banks of the Anacoco Creek, his Dad, Ben, riding "Buck" the horse with "Buck" the dog riding in back of him on the horse, visiting Aunt Mary Jarrell Midkiff who lived with her family on the original Stephen Jarrell homestead, and the 4th of July picnics at Aunt Mary's house which also celebrated Mary's birthday of July 3. Stories of Stephen Jarrell taking Ben Jarrell to Alexandria for supplies and coming home with only meal and no flour which meant no baked goods for another six months. He referred to the "clay hills" on the Anacoco Creek as his childhood home. He spoke of the death of his little sister, Bennie Mae, and his father building a tiny coffin and his mother lining it with cloth and taking the baby to the Knight Cemetery for burial. He remembered picking flowers from his grandmother’s (Nancy Jane Stone Jarrell) flower bed and her scolding him, and he remembered the cold January day in 1937 when Nancy was found behind their home after having a stroke and dying. The family moved from the Knight Community to Merryville when it was time for Bert to begin his formal education. His father tore down the old house on the Anacoco Creek and moved the lumber to Merryville where he built a three room shotgun house. World War II erupted. His mother had twin girls Billie and Betty when he was 8 years old. A doctor had come to deliver the babies delivering one baby and going on the front porch to tell Mr. Jarrell his wife had a baby girl when the midwife assisting the doctor ran out yelling "Lordy! doctor come quick - there's another one!” He loved telling when the girls were about two they were outside playing and wandered onto the dirt road in front of the house stopping Army maneuvers from Fort Polk. He worked mowing lawns with an old push mower, shined shoes, worked at a local grocery store and later in a sawmill and was proud that he could help buy his school clothes and have his own spending money, and he was proud to give his Mom a little extra money. He gave his little sisters his lunch money so they could have cokes and any little extras they wanted at school. The story of young Peter Knighten who drove a bus during WWII carrying soldiers on leave from Ft. Polk to DeRidder and the KKK hung him on the court house square at DeRidder. Bert was a good friend with Peter’s brother Buck Knighten. Buck obtained his college education at Grambling University and became a teacher, principal and eventually superintendent of schools – they were lifelong friends. He met a young soldier named Bob McKell who was from Spanish Forks, Utah. They became friends and Bob regularly visited the Jarrell home and shared family meals and companionship. Bob McKell was sent to Korea with his military unit, and died on Mother’s Day 1952. Bert said it was at this time that he decided to join the service. Bert talked of the Lowry family who owned a sawmill near their home and of Doris Lowry who was his first love at the age of 7. As children, they would slip out of the house after dinner and sit on a pile of lumber holding hands and talking and then as they became teenagers driving Doris’ father’s 1950 Ford Victoria over 90 miles an hour on Hwy. 190. Bert met the Rev. Shadrack Brooks as a young teenager and grew to respect this man who soon led Bert to Christ and planted seeds that gave Bert his desire to serve God as a witness and spread the Word of Jesus Christ. Bert preached his first sermon while studying under the influence of Shadrack as a teen. He was voted Most Handsome in his high school class. On his 18th birthday, Oct. 23, 1952, he skipped school and hitch-hiked to DeRidder, LA and joined the Air Force. He was sworn in on November 4, 1952 after a lot of explaining to his parents on why he wanted to join the service before completing his senior year in school. He caught a bus in DeRidder along with other inductees and continued picking up new members of the Armed Forces until they reached their destination at Langley Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He met a fellow soldier on the trip named Jack Gleason, who became a life-long friend. Together, they went through basic training together and the realization that the Sergeant was indeed their new “mother and father”. He earned his G.E.D. while in the Air Force and presented it to his high school principal at Merryville High School who made sure Bert also had his high school diploma from Merryville High School in 1953. Bert was put in a radio/communication training program at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS. Ben Jarrell co-signed for Bert to buy a 1941 2 door Ford Coupe so he could make trips home to visit the family and his girlfriend, Barbara Ann Burch, of Merryville, Louisiana. Barbara and Bert were married November 4, 1953, one year after Bert had joined the Air Force. Bert was very proud to have been appointed to the National Security Agency in 1953 and served as a member of the 6981st Radio Group Mobile who participated in the establishment of the “Dew Line”. The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. It was set up to detect incoming Soviet bombers during the Cold War, and provide early warning of any sea or land invasion. Bert was put on a ship in San Francisco thinking he was going to Korea, but ended up at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. He met more life-long friends while stationed there, Ralph Speers, Robert Pill, Royce Renfro and Sabas de los Santos. Stories of playing in a country band at the “Chew-Got” Inn, holiday dinners given by the owners for the soldiers, shooting at Russian frogmen and getting marooned on an iceberg in the Bering Sea. He went home to get Barbara and rode a bus to Seattle, Washington before catching a plane to Alaska where they would make their home for almost a year. He loved telling stories of their life together in Alaska, the little trailer he bought for them to live in, moose walking on top of the trailer when it was covered in snow, he and Barbara shoving a friends wife through a little window when she had locked herself out of her own trailer and she got struck and he and Barbara had to push her through. He said the Russians once wished him a Merry Christmas on the radio having his name, rank and serial number. He and a small number of his group were marooned on an iceberg for 13 days floating in the Bering Sea before they were rescued only 13 miles from the Soviet Union. They all had frost bite and they caught and ate a small fox – raw. Bert contracted colio retinitis probably from that fox that caused him to loose most of his vision and in time ended his military career. They left Alaska for Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi about 3 weeks before their first child, Ben Jamin, was born. The apartment in an old mansion they lived in, the ride to the base hospital in a cab and the cab driver who was almost as scared as the father-to-be. The nurse who would not let him in until after the baby was born and his efforts to slip into the hospital and getting caught. Flying all over the world on various assignments including Libya, Suez Canal, and Germany. He was caught by the Soviets in a café in Tripoli, tortured with batteries attached to his feet, later escaped in his underwear through a small window running through the streets of Tripoli until he was picked up by MPs. To get him out of Libya he was sedated and put into a body bag as if he were deceased and taken to Germany where he spent time in a hospital and then hotel to recuperate. He met Horst Engelbert and wife, Inga while in Germany and spent almost a month enjoying going places with them and their young son and sharing stories of their past and hope for the future. While on assignment, he received news of the birth of his 2nd son, Bert Wayne Jarrell, Jr. who was born shortly after Hurricane Audrey. He loved to tell the story that the 1st telegram he received indicated his wife had a REALLY big baby boy, then about two hours later another telegram came indicating the pounds and ounces numbers had been reversed – indicating a more normal size baby. The family moved to Reno, Nevada where Sergeant Jarrell taught interrogation methods – officers were taught what to expect if caught by the enemy. His unit was given a Presidential Citation when they aided in the rescue of a group of boy scouts lost in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Bert received orders to move again. Barbara, Ben and Bert Jr. went back home to Merryville where Michael Albert was born. The family moved to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. This was Bert’s last assignment. He was treated for his eye disease then discharged. Home to Merryville. He took a job carrying pipe for a company building a pipeline. He told the man who hired him he had little eye sight left but needed a job to take care of his family. The man told Bert to stay close to him, walk behind him and they would carry the pipe together. Bert did this for about six weeks until his military retirement pay started. He attended Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La. And majored in psychology and a minor in English. He later took courses at McNeese University in Lake Charles. Karl Patrick Claiborne Jarrell was born while the family lived in Natchitoches. A daughter, Lydia Ann finally completed the Jarrell family after their move from Natchitoches to Merryville. He told of raising his children and taking family vacations all over the United States with his children. This was his purpose and greatest joy. Bert became an automobile mechanic, worked for a large dealership in Lake Charles, ran a service station, owned his own mechanic shop and had a successful logging business. He did carpenter work. He volunteered for the local Meals on Wheels. He was well known for his biscuits and dressing recipes and pies with meringues. He studied the Bible and was called to become a minister. He was an interim preacher at several churches in western Louisiana and eventually pastored at two churches. When not pastoring, he taught men’s and children’s Sunday school. He was a devoted witness for Christ. He took every opportunity to speak of Christ. He was never shy in asking “Are you a Christian?” “Are you saved?” He baptized, counseled individuals and performed many weddings. He loved the Lord and he loved people. He was accepting and not judgmental and so compassionate. He listened and had great empathy. His life seemed to be dedicated to “service” whether to God, his family, his country or his fellow man. After moving to Houston after the end of his first marriage, Bert and Sharon met in 1995. Bert called a Mrs. Ray Jarrell in Humble, TX and asked her if she was related to the Jarrells in Louisiana. She said she did not know but she had a niece who did genealogy and she gave Bert her niece’s phone number. After a phone call, the couple met for the first time under the chaperone of Kelly, Sharon’s daughter. Their first date was in a local cemetery. Bert’s cousin, “Bully” Jarrell was buried next to Sharon’s great-aunt Mattie at the Tetter Cemetery in Spring, TX. Bert spoke of his Uncle Lonnie and Aunt Letha Jarrell – Sharon took him to the cemetery where her Aunt Letha and Uncle Lonnie Jarrell were buried. In December 1995, Bert and Sharon were married by a Jewish Rabbi at Kipperman’s Pawn Shop and Wedding Chapel on Belfort Street in Houston, TX. We continued working on family genealogy for the next 20 years. We loved one another deeply and devotedly. Every day was an adventure. We traveled, we worked hard, we planned, we lived, we loved. We loved Our Lord, our families and we pleased each other and we were happy. He started his day telling me how much he loved me and did so many times every day and at the end of each day with a kiss “good night” I was told again “I love you”. He always told me “if God takes me before you, don’t worry – it will be only for a short time for me but I pray you may live much longer – we will see one another again in Heaven and be reunited with all of our other loved ones – and we will have eternal life with Christ in Heaven!” Amen. Until then Bert Wayne Jarrell – I will see you in my dreams. I love you. Sharon