Andrew Jay Greenfield Jr.

Jay was born during the Great Depression on January 7, 1930, in Merkel, Texas to Andrew Jay Greenfield, Sr., and Laurene Greenfield. He was born significantly premature before neonatal intensive care units came into existence to care for such a small baby. He was so tiny when he was born that the doctors did not think he would survive and in fact, they did not even think he was alive when he was delivered. The story goes that he was taken away before his father could see him, and wanting to see him, he discovered that Jay was still alive and alerted the medical staff. He was so small that he could be held in the palm of his mother’s hand. He was kept warm by the fireplace of the home swaddled in a small shoebox. Despite the odds of survival at birth, he persisted to thrive and lived a long, wonderful life until he peacefully passed away in his sleep on July 25th, 2022 at the age of 92 years old.

He attended school in Merkel, Texas through the 12th grade and never missed a day of school. Neither illness nor snow-covered roads kept Jay from attending school. After high school, Jay went on to serve in the Korean War for fifteen and half months with the Combat Engineers, 1092nd battalion, as a United States Army Corporal.

Jay and Twyla were married on June 21st, 1957, and moved to Odessa shortly thereafter. They had two sons, Daryl Jay and Lance Cade Greenfield, and adopted two daughters Debbie Darland who currently resides in the Dallas area, and Amy Greenfield, who went to be with the Lord too soon at the age of 22. Several challenging years later Jay and Twyla adopted Amy’s daughter Tiffany.

Jay was a member of the Sherwood Church of Christ and served as a deacon and Bible class teacher for several years.

He worked as an electrician his entire life. He served as an electrician in the US Army and then worked for Basin Electric for 20 years as their foreman and 13 years for the City of Odessa. In 2015, he enjoyed going with his son Daryl to Washington, D.C. on the Permian Basin Honor Flight for his service in the Korean War. He talked about the trip for many years.

He is preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Twyla Jo, his sister Peggy and his brother Billy Greenfield. He is survived by his son Daryl Jay and daughter-in-law Cindy Greenfield, son Lance Cade Greenfield, daughter Debbie Darland, daughter Tiffany Greenfield, two grandchildren Nicole and Colyn Greenfield, nephews, Michael Womack and Scott Greenfield and niece Gaylene, two great-grandchildren Braydon and Billy.

In his spare time, he enjoyed keeping his home and yard in good shape. He was very creative and could build or fix anything. He enjoyed fishing and any projects he could create around the house. He was a coin-collecting enthusiast, he collected coins all his life and loved to gift rare and special coins to his grandkids. He also enjoyed volunteering his time at Odessa Christian School working to maintain the building and grounds.

Visitation will be held at 9:00 am, Monday, August 1st, 2022 at The Frank Wilson Funeral Home in Odessa, TX. Services will be at 10:00 am in the chapel with burial to follow at Sunset Memorial Gardens.

Contributions to Odessa Christian School would be appreciated in lieu of flowers.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.frankwwilson.com for the Greenfield family.