JImmie Pettigrew

Jamie Rae Clarkston, or as people knew her, Jimmie Pettigrew,100, went to be with The Lord on March 8, 2023. Jimmie  was born on June 10, 1922 in Artesia, NM.  Jimmie had older twin sisters, Willie Mae and Johnnie Fae and a younger sister, Joyce Loretta.

When Jimmie was a very small girl her family left New Mexico for Texas. The story goes, that the car broke down in Justiceburg so that is where they stayed. Times were hard for Jimmie and her family.  They lived on a few acres while her single mother tended chickens and a vegetable garden for her family.

Jimmie first attended school in the three-room schoolhouse in Justiceburg.  It was here she met her future husband, Hern Pettigrew whom she married on August 9,1941 in Post.  Hern worked for the railroad and farmed. Their first apartment was a refurbished boxcar! They moved to Slaton in July 1942 and had two daughters, Patsy Gay and Ronda Kay. 

Young Jimmie was quite an athlete. She played baseball and broke several bats and hit more than one home run.  She went on to play basketball at Post High School and then at 45 played golf at the Slaton Golf Course.

Jimmie enjoyed croquet, dominoes and making pies.  She learned to play the domino game 42 at 9 years old.  Her closest friends and family all enjoyed the regular domino games at the Pettigrew’s complete with the smacking sound of pieces being shuffled and hoots and hollers as Jimmie won again.  

While raising her family in Slaton, Jimmie studied to be a beautician and worked many years at this vocation. A devoted Christian, Jimmie started teaching Sunday School at First Baptist Church which she continued to teach for 50 years.

Jimmie loved her family and used her skills in the kitchen to show it.  When her grandchildren would visit, she always had apple cake ready for their arrival.  Then without too much coaxing she would make lemon, coconut cream, and chocolate pies; biscuits and gravy; and beans and cornbread. She would fry okra and pack sandwiches and iced tea for trips to the farm. 

The farm was a place everyone enjoyed visiting and Jimmie was no exception. She loved feeding her favorite cow, Sister Baby, treats she called cake, fishing for catfish to fry up for dinner, making pottery out of the red clay with her granddaughters, shucking black eyed peas on the porch or tending to a batch of churning ice cream for everyone to eat out of coffee cups.

Back home she kept pet turtles and blooming flowers in her yard.  She loved to China paint and made many pieces to give away to friends and family.  Thanks to her mother, Jimmie was a talented seamstress who made intricate quilts, fashionable clothes, and delicate keepsakes. 

Jimmie worked hard her whole life. She made sure everyone was fed, the church was full, pies were made for everyone, prayers were given and her family was loved. She died just shy of her 101 birthday.  She was predeceased by her parents, her husband Hern, her siblings, and her daughter Patsy Tanner.  She is survived by her daughter Ronda Wheeler; Grandchildren Amy, Patrick, Jennifer and Lynn; Great-grandchildren Liana, Elise, Laurelle, Olivia, Ida, Chase, and Edith. Jimmie is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

Jimmie will be missed by extended family and friends.  Services will be at a later date in Slaton under direction of Englund Funeral Home. Service information will be updated when available.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.