Bright-Holland Funeral Home has scheduled services for 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 20th, at College Church of Christ with Evan Butler officiating. Burial with Masonic Rites will follow in Knights of Honor Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the church one hour prior to the service.
John Henry, the son of Joel Graves and Mildred Willard Graves, was born June 28, 1939, in Blossom.
He was the only boy with four sisters, Helen, Opal, Ruby and Dorothy.
He joined the National Guard and later the U. S. Army from 1958-1962. He worked at B & W and then as a pressman at UACRO where he retired following a career that spanned 32 years. John Henry was an active member of Blossom Church of Christ. He lived to see all five of his grandkids become Christians. How very blessed he felt to be with them on these days. He was a kind, loving, and giving man who never met a stranger. John Henry was a true craftsman, handcrafting grandfather clocks, tables, chairs, rocking horses, and baby beds for dolls. He was truly a Jack-of-all-trades and liked to tinker with different things. He was a coin collector and loved to grow a garden. (The grandkids said, “Pepaw Corn was the best!”) He worked on making his home beautiful with flowers and one of his hobbies was grafting trees.
He helped with many school projects for all Sandra’s students, his own children and his grandchildren. Anything Sandra was involved in he helped make it complete. He loved going to all the games of his kids, grandkids and other kids. He never missed unless he was sick
He was active in the Blossom Volunteer Fire Department in his younger years, a member of the Masonic Lodge, and a member of the Lamar-Delta Retired Teachers which he joined with Sandra and remained active following her death.
On July 12, 1963, he married Sandra G. Crawford, building 53 years of family and memories before her death on Dec. 11, 2016.
Survivors include two children; Phil Graves & wife Jeannie of Bonham, Mandy Ray & husband Chuck of Blossom, grandchildren, Bryce Graves & wife Emily of Sulphur Springs, Baylee & Kylee Graves of Bonham, and Hailey & Hannah Ray of Blossom, a sister, Dorothy Day & husband Clarence of Beaumont along with many nieces & nephews and a plethora of friends.
