JERRY ‘LOVI’ VEST
Jerry Vest, known as Lovi by her grandchildren, family and friends, entered Heaven on March 13, 2025. She was born July 6, 1935, in Healdton, Okla. She was reunited with her husband, Sam; great-granddaughter Story Vest; brothers Eddie and Joe Dixon; and parents S. W. and Mildred Dixon.
Her schooling and career days took her to Texas Tech University and North Texas University. Upon returning to Kermit,Texas, she went to work for Kermit State Bank and married Sam, her junior high sweetheart, on Aug. 2, 1957. Sam and Jerry soon moved to the Vest family’s newly acquired 40,000-acre ranch that had nothing but a perimeter fence in Childress, Texas. Little did she know, she would be confronted with the task required of the wife of a third-generation rancher challenged with developing a pristine sculptured ranch from scratch. After moving to the ranch, she cooked three meals a day for cowboys, fencing, windmill and pasture grubbing crews, where she evolved into the phenomenal self-taught rustic gourmet cook that she was known for. To this day, her recipes have been passed down to the new generations. She often told of when she didn’t have a dishwasher but remembered cowboy Angelo McNally helping her wash and dry dishes at the Childress cow works.
“Lovi” was an avid Childress Bobcat, Texas Tech Red Raider and rodeo fan that enjoyed watching her three grandsons compete and succeed at multiple sports and levels of competition. She loved talking about her love for Christ, reading the Bible, college and NFL football games and rodeo. Lovi’s timeless beauty and remarkable taste in fashion always made an unforgettable impression in any setting in which she found herself.
Jerry is survived by her son, Vance Vest and fiancé Carolyn Rhodes; daughter Samann Vest Watkins and husband Ty; grandson Vandon Vest and wife Soni; great-grandson Volan and great-granddaughter Valley; grandson Stetson Vest and wife Chenae; great-granddaughters Stetlee and Calvary; grandson Sawyer Vest and wife Whitney; great-grandson Swayde and great granddaughter Whitness.
Pallbearers are as follows: Vandon Vest, Stetson Vest, Sawyer Vest, Ty Watkins, Ross Roark and Billy Riley.
Honorary pallbearers are as follows: Ronnie Miller, Jim Watkins, Robert Roark and Larry Dunn.
The family would like to thank and honor all special people that took loving care of Jerry during this season of her life: Martha Duran, Machelle Fischer, Ruth Ruiz, Raquel Delano, Barbarita Montes, Kyleigh Dutcher, Aubrey Ledesma, Donna Haupt, Kristi Ornelas, Vicki Pigmon and Larry Dunn.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Story Vest Memorial, P.O. Box 496, Childress, TX 79201.
