Person:James Dillard (10)

According to Jody Dillard:

James Cowan 'Jack' Dillard 1915-1983

He graduated from Lueders High School, Lueders, TX. Between 1970 and 1980 Moved to Kingsland, TX

Jack was injured in an accident with a bulldozer and tractor in 1970 near Kingsland, Texas. His pelvis was crushed to about six inches wide. The injuries were so severe that the doctors felt it would be six months before he would be able to sit up and a year before he would be able to stand and some doubt as to whether he would be able to walk for a very long time. Jack refused to accept that prognosis and said he would be walking out of that hospital within two months. Almost two months to the day he walked out of the hospital on his own. The injury left him with a slight limp but his recovery was remarkable.

Jack liked to tinker with machines and make alterations on them. While working for the Jones Brothers Paving company in Odessa, Texas, he created a machine that looked like a lawn edger with a saw blade on it.The blade made it easier to cut into asphalt so a jack hammer was not needed. This machine was modified by his employer and manufactured on a National level. The machine is now made and sold all over the world but unfortunately, Jack did not get a patent; his company beat him to the punch and got the patent with Jack's own designs and drawings.

Remembrances of nephew, Neal Barron:

My brother Glenn and I really thought Uncle Jack was a great guy. He was our uncle but he was not very much older than me so we all had young ideas together!

Jack would come to Bell County and visit with Katie and Guy. We would go squirrel hunting on the creek. He would set Glenn and me down and tell us to be real still & quiet and shortly he would whisper, "I smell a squirrel!" We believed him and we would try so hard to smel lthat odor of the squirrel, but, no luck. We would sit very still and quiet and then suddenly, POW!, down came the squirrel. Dinner was in the bag, (we ate a lot of squirrel then). What Glenn and I didn't know was the Jack had spotted the squirrel and was just waiting for a good shot at it. But, I would go to school and tell my friends that I had an uncle that could smell squirrels before he could see 'em!

OBITUARY: Wichita Falls Daily Record; Nov. 28,1983 -- Dillard, Seymour JAMES C. DILLARD

SEYMOUR, Tex: -- James Cowan "Jack" Dillard 68, died Friday in a Seymour hospital. Services will be 2 p.m. Sunday at Seymour Memoria lFuneral Home Chapel with the Rev. Joe Ainsworth, pastor of First Baptist Church, officiating. Burial will be in Riverview Cemetery.

Born Aug. 8, 1915 in Belton, Texas, he moved to Jones County, Texas,where he was reared and attended schools. He was a truck driver and an oil field worker for about 30 years. He moved to Odessa, Texas, in 1941 where he was employed with Farrell Construction Co. He moved to Seymour in 1981. He married Lillie Fay Humphrey Feb. 7,1936, in Jones County. He was a member of the Baptist church.

Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Betty Karr of Seymour, Linda Keith of San Antonio, Joanne Dillard of Fort Collins, Colo.; two sons, Don of Los Angeles and James Jr. of Denver, Colo.; one brother, Ancil of Ganado, Texas, four sisters, Katie Tripp of Waco, Texas, Pearl O'Bryant of Stephenville, Texas, Eunice Sides of Brownfield, Texas, and Marie Cunningham of Albany, Texas; and 13 grandchildren.

Family requests memorials to the American Cancer Society of the Frist Baptist Church of Seymour Building Fund.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Rootsweb chart of Jody Dillard: James C. Dillard Family wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi op GET db jody44.