A visitation for Joe will be held Friday, August 23, 2024 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home, 5701 Highway 277 South, Abilene, Texas 79606. A celebration of life will occur Saturday, August 24, 2024 at 10:00 AM, 5701 Highway 277 South, Abilene, Texas 79606. Interment will follow services at Abilene Municipal Cemetery, 1133 Cottonwood St., Abilene, TX 79604 where he will be laid to rest with his mother and brother.
A graduate of Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas, Joe later earned his bachelor’s degree from Abilene Christian University and completed his master’s degree at Hardin-Simmons University.
Joe was the esteemed President of West Texas State Bank, which has offices in Lubbock, Odessa, Rowena, and Snyder, Texas. His professional career was spent working alongside his father, John E. Grist, and Verna Grist, in banks in Andrews, Midland, and Snyder, Texas for many years. He was widely regarded as a banker and humanitarian.
Outside of work, Joe was a loving father, a dependable friend, a silver-tongued conversationalist proficient in the art of humor, and above all a man who cared for and empathized with those that many others often wouldn't.
To list all of those whom he helped would be a foolish endeavor — and he often did so without desire or demand of any personal benefit — a quality that all men should be measured by.
He was preceded in death by his beloved brother, John Mac Grist, his mother, Frances Sayles, his grandparents, Jack and Marjorie Sayles of Abilene, his grandparents J. Walter Grist and Charlene Grist of Canadian, Texas, and his uncle, Bill Mac Grist of Lubbock.
Joe is survived by his father, John E. Grist; his stepmother, Verna Grist; his three sons: Joe Robert Grist Jr., and fiancé Laura Alaniz of Austin, Texas; Brandon Mac Grist, wife Brianda Grist, and grandchildren Noah and Emberly of Abilene, Texas; and Matthew Aaron Grist, and fiancé Anley Longshore of San Angelo, Texas; his step-brother Jack Grist and his son Oliver; and his uncle John Robert Sayles of Nashville, Tennessee.
Joe Robert Grist, Sr. is loved and mourned by his family, friends, colleagues, and all who had the privilege of knowing him. He was an exceptional man without equal. His memory is cherished and lives on in our hearts.
