Julia Estelle Lacey “Judy” Jarnigan – Obituary, 88, died at her Cedar Creek home near Red Bay, Ala., Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012, after an extended illness.
A native of Acton, Ala., she graduated from Vincent High School and, like her father before her, attended Massey Business College in Birmingham. She then worked with Moore and Handley Hardware in Birmingham.
After marriage, she taught briefly at James Chapel School in Dempsey in Franklin County. She was a substitute teacher at White Oak School in the Cedar Creek community.
Mrs. Jarnigan was an artist, poet, quilter and gardener. She did bird counts for Cornell University.
She did extensive biographical and historical research of her husband’s families. The Lacey lineage of Mrs. Jarnigan passes back to a baron who came to England during the Norman conquest. Her Acton lineage was also prominent in early English history.
A member of the Cedar Creek Missionary Baptist Church, she also served it as Sunday School clerk and teacher.
Visitation will be 10 a.m. until noon, Wednesday, Dec. 26, at Cedar Creek Missionary Baptist Church on Alabama 247. Funeral services will follow at noon at the church with Brosthers Silas Oliver and Eddie Wix officiating. Bill Jarnigan will deliver the eulogy. Burial will follow in the Cedar Creek Cemetery.
She is survived by daughter, Gail Atkins (Neil), of Red Bay; sons, William M. Jarnigan, of Florence, Gary Jarnigan (Marlene), of Muscle Shoals, and Phillip Jarnigan (Cathy), of Red Bay; grandchildren, Emily Horton (Jamey), of Madison, Ala., Betsy Jarnigan and Julie Jarnigan, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Wesley Jarnigan, of Red Bay; great-grandsons, Lucas and Caden Horton, of Madison; brother, Gene Lacey, of Birmingham; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, William A. Jarnigan, of Red Bay; parents, John Thomas and Rosa Ethel Lacey, of Shelby County, Ala.; her brothers, Thomas Jr., of Jefferson County, Ala., and Paul Lacey, of Merritt Island, Fla.; and sisters; Madge Seifert, of Columbiana, Ala., and Mary Hoyle, of London, Ala.
The family would like to thank nieces Diane Baggett and Katherine Johnson for their daily care of her. Gentiva Home Health and Hospice of Tennessee Valley personnel were also very helpful.
