Junior Nation

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The funeral service will be held for Jasper Junior Nation at 11:00am on Wednesday, May 29, 2024 in Lawton, Oklahoma at Cameron Baptist Church with Pastor Mike Teel officiating.   Interment will follow at Sunset Memorial Garden Cemetery under the direction of Hart-Wyatt Funeral Home.  A visitation will be held on Tuesday, May 28, 2024 from 5-8pm at Cameron Baptist Church.

Jasper Junior Nation died Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in Lawton, Oklahoma at the age of 85.  Junior was born in the family home in Altus, Oklahoma on January 8, 1939.  He was the youngest of 7 children born to Jasper and Louella Nation, of whom 6 survived.   Junior and his siblings grew up on the tenets of “hard work reaps rewards” and “the Good Lord is in charge of all things.”

Whether as a teen, or as a man in the prime of his life, Junior was never a man at rest.  As a teen he was either serving as catcher on the Friendship High School baseball team, playing basketball or working alongside his 2 brothers and 3 sisters helping his parents on the family farm, which is still in the family. Family was of the utmost importance to Junior.   He had 2 daughters, but his nephews and nieces certainly held a place in his heart as they could count on “Unc” to be in the bleachers cheering them on at basketball and baseball games and yelling through the noise and dust at the car races. As a grandpa and Papa, he never hesitated to take grandkids to the forest to camp or to cheer for them at games and plays. The concept of “family” did not stop at his front door.  As he and his wife, Jo, spent many years camping and traveling with close friends, the word “friend” became synonymous with “family.”  Junior easily turned strangers into friends!

 Junior was a productive man of service.  He was an educator, a life member of OEA, NEA, and Oklahoma Retired Teachers, the Masonic Lodge Triangle #548, a longtime member of Cameron Baptist Church, and he just lent a hand when one was needed with nothing expected in return.

Junior graduated from Friendship High School in 1957, Southwestern State University in 1961, and he began his teaching career in Bazine, Kansas teaching 6^th grade while coaching basketball and baseball.  He moved to Lawton in 1964 and was employed by the Lawton Public Schools at Sullivan Village Elementary.  He became the principal at Sullivan Village in 1974 and at Roosevelt in 1979.  He retired from that position in 1993.

While teaching at Sullivan Village, Junior was introduced to Jo Lewis, daughter of the head cook.   Although Jo’s mom never admitted to playing match maker, the two fell in love and married on September 1, 1967.   For almost 57 years, they have been best friends and soul mates, never leaving each other’s side.  They have had many adventures together from Sydney, Australia, to Paris, France and all 50 states.  

Junior is survived by his wife, Jo, of the home; his daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Jess Lopez, their children Trinity and his wife Andrea, Joris and his wife Karleene, and Marjolein and her husband Ty, his daughter and son-in-law April and Jerry Grizzle and their son, Jasper Dean (JD). On paper, Ronnie Kastner, his wife Trudy, and their 3 sons, Kayle, Kody, and Bear may be nephews and a niece-in-law, but in dad’s heart they were his sons and an extra daughter. Their love and care for “Unc” and Aunt Jo is unceasing.  To add to Junior’s legacy are 6 great grandsons, a multitude of nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews.  He is also survived by his last remaining sibling, Margie Watson and her husband Dwight, the spouses of his deceased sisters, Bill Hudgens and Charles Kastner and wife of deceased brother, Evelyn Nation.

Junior was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters, Vera and Trula, and his brothers, Doyle and JW and his sister-in-law Marilyn.