Julian ““J.C.“” Massey

GRANBURY — Julian Massey lost his lengthy battle with cancer on September 22, 2015 at his home in Hood County surrounded by members of his family.
Funeral: 2:00 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, at Wiley Funeral Home.
Burial: Fall Creek Cemetery in Hood County.
Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.
Memorials: In lieu of flowers, memorials to the Fall Creek Cemetery Fund, First National Bank Granbury.

He was born, at home, in the Fall Creek Community of Hood County on February 1, 1927 and attended grade school in the Fall Creek Schoolhouse before moving on to Granbury High School. His love of farming and the community caused him to sink deep roots in Hood County that would hold him for the rest of his life. He was awarded a certificate from the Texas Department of Agriculture the first year the Family Land Heritage Program was created in recognition of land being farmed continuously by the same family for 100 years and in the fall of 2014 he traveled to Austin to receive a certificate recognizing those families that had owned and farmed the same property for 150 years. In 2014 Dodge Motor Company recognized him as an outstanding Texas farmer.

Julian served as a Private in the Army during World War II and lost his elder brother, Lowell, in the Battle of the Bulge. He returned home and utilized his GI benefits to attend college for a while. He married Willie Mae Wiggins in 1950 and for a short period of time worked in the Santa Fe repair shop in Cleburne while continuing to farm. Being a part time farmer was not what he wanted and he soon made farming his full time occupation. He raised peanuts, cotton, maize, corn, oats, sudan, watermelons, and beef cattle over the next 65 years. He loved the life he chose and enjoyed the work every day. His last days were spent looking out the bedroom window across the back porch where he loved to sit and watch his cattle grazing in the pasture.

Julian had a deep faith in God. He loved the land, his cows, and his dogs, but he loved his family more than anything in this world especially his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He cherished his friends and was greatly respected by them. He and Willie Mae raised two sons, helped raise three grandsons, and helped start four great-grandchildren on the path to working and respecting the land and the farming lifestyle. He believed that a solid education was essential and often reminded his heirs that an education was the only thing in this life that no one could ever steal from them.

He was preceded in death by his father, Riley, his mother, Myrtle, his brother, Lowell, and his sister, Nancy June.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Willie Mae Massey, son Mike Massey and wife Christy, son Robert Massey and wife Joanne, four grandsons, Jason Massey and wife Laurie, Riley Massey and wife Jordan, & Paul Massey and wife Michelle, Scott Fowler, one granddaughter Blaire Fowler, one great-granddaughter, Michaela, three great-grandsons, Justin, Julian & Miles, brother Kenneth Massey, sister Kathryn Sledge, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of friends.
Pallbearers are grandsons, Jason, Riley, and Paul, great-grandson, Justin, and sons Mike and Robert.