Johnny Myer Franklin

John Myer Franklin, 76, of Lubbock, Texas passed away on June 9, 2018. A visitation will be held at Resthaven Funeral Home of Lubbock, Texas from 6-8 pm on Friday, June 15th. Funeral services will be held at Resthaven at 10 am on Saturday, June 16th. John was born on December 28, 1941 in Wink, Texas to Louis Edmon Franklin and Mildred Eunice Bailey. He graduated from Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas in 1960 and from Texas Tech University in 1964. He was married to the love of his life, Linda Kaye Franklin for 51 years who preceded him in death on January 29th of this year.

“Johnny” as his mother called him, came to know Christ as his personal Savior in the summer of 1955 on the last night of a revival in Smyer, Texas. He responded to the invitation with his little brother “Tommy” and both received Christ together. In his book “Love Among the Derricks” (pg. 448) he wrote, “I felt my heart moved and, as John Wesley said, I was strangely warmed.” Soon the Lord moved the family from Smyer to Lubbock were he became the president of his Sunday school class and represented them in a citywide organization of different church youth fellowships called the Lubbock Christian Youth Association (LCYA), which was the source of many lifelong friendships.

Loved by his students, family times together were often filled with talking about one or two of them who had recently stopped by for coffee, or had called or written from different places all over the world. He loved listening and learning from them. His favorite pastime was reading about the Civil War, U.S. and West Texas history. During his 30 years at Frenship High School, he won numerous “Teacher Of The Year” awards, taught American History, the Gifted And Talented program and founded numerous clubs including Jr. Historians, Chess Club and the Photography Club. He was a professor at South Plains College, worked over 20 years with Texas Tech's Ranching Heritage Center, was commissioned by the Texas Bureau of Economic Understanding to lecture at 8 different Texas Colleges & Universities, has conducted seminars and classes for the Smithsonian, the Texas Council of Social Studies, the South Plains Genealogical Society, the Texas Historical Commission, the Society of Colonial Dames, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of the Confederacy, the West Texas Museum Association and Lubbock Christian College's Institute for Business and Economic Education. He was President of the South Plains Genealogical Society for 3 years, was on the board of Lubbock's Sesquicentennial celebration, authored a map "Historical Sites of the South Plains" and was responsible for the research of the regimental flag of Terry's Texas Rangers so that an authentic replica could be made for the West Texas Museum celebrating the Centennial of the organization of Lubbock County. He has donated numerous papers, books, photos and more to the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University, which can be viewed by contacting Dr. Monte Monroe.

All his grandchildren knew him affectionately as “Big Daddy” and he was larger than life, as stories and history flowed into them through the tender and creative care he had for each one. He was a West Texan - through and through, and his family was very proud of him later in life as he battled Parkinson’s. He was determined not to let his physical challenges stand in the way of cooperating with the Michael J. Fox foundation. Motivated by children he met at Dr. Jankovic’s Parkinson’s clinic at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, he journeyed there several times a year up through 2017 so a cure will one day be discovered. You couldn’t help but admire his strength and there is little doubt that it was Christ that enabled him to be so productive in making his life a contribution to not only his family but to many others as well.

John is survived by his son, Tom and his wife Regina Franklin, missionaries to the Dominican Republic; his daughter, Gabrielle and Steve Olguin, of Lubbock; eight grandchildren; one great grandson and 2 siblings, Betty Franklin of Odessa, Texas and Jim Franklin and his wife Chris of San Antonio, Texas.

Memorials can be made to the Children’s Home of Lubbock or the Southwest Collection, Texas Tech, P.O. Box 41041, Lubbock, Texas 79409 and online tributes can be posted on www.resthavenfuneralhome.com

Before becoming a teacher, John studied law at the University of Texas in Austin and quoted often Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr - “Through our great and good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire."