Jo Ellen Rogers

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 10:30 AM at Abilene Baptist Church officiated by Pastor Avery Barney.

Jo Ellen was born on March 11, 1956 in Big Spring, Texas to the late Jimmie Blair Rogers and Bonnie Marie (Gandy) Rogers Martin. Jo Ellen grew up in Abilene where she attended Crockett Elementary-Classes for the deaf. She also attended the Texas School of the Deaf in Austin, Cooper High School in Abilene and West Texas Rehabilitation Center. Jo Ellen loved school and loved to write. She was always involved in sports, especially track and field events. Family members recall her as, “very fast”. While at the school for the Deaf, she was on the drill team. She was married to Danny C. Zincke in 1974. She later married Terry Jay Wells in 1980 and Mark Lansford in 2006.

Jo Ellen was always on the go and enjoyed keeping busy. She loved helping others and was selfless; it was not uncommon for her to put the needs of other above her own. She was active in Abilene’s deaf community including the Texas Deaf Coffee Social, Deaf seminars through local colleges as well the with Senior Citizen programs. Jo Ellen was very adept at crocheting and made many beautiful and useful blankets, shawls, and throws for her family and friends. Jo Ellen was also a women of faith, she was a member of First Christian Church and attended several different congregations and always enjoyed the Christian Fellowship.

Jo Ellen worked for Coca Cola’s bottling plant in Monahan’s, Texas. She moved around to several different cities working in various industries. However, she found a special calling working with the elderly as a caregiver. She had a unique ability to communicate with the residents. This manifested to the greatest degree when she was able to care for her grandmother in the last two years of her life.

She was preceded in death by her father, Jimmie Blair Rogers; her son, William Blair Wells; husbands, Terry Jay Wells and Mark Lansford; her brother, David Lee Rogers; her beloved grandparents, Lynn and Verna Gandy and Robert and Nova Rogers; step-brother, Johnnie Martin; nephew, Sean Baker; uncles David, Guy, and Z.L. Boyd and wife Thelma Rogers Boyd; aunt, Vera Rogers Ball.

She leaves to cherish precious memories her son, Danny Lee Zincke and his wife Lacey; her granddaughters, Bailee Nichole Zincke, Natalee Grace Zincke, Karlee Ray Zincke; her beloved parents, Bonnie and John Martin; her sister, Kathrin Lynn Parker and her husband Tim; step-brother, Jerry Martin; nephews, Jimmie and wife Stephanie Rogers, Oren Rogers, James and his wife Rose Rogers, , and Tanner Rogers, Andrew Parker and wife Jodie, and Jimmie Parker and Philip Weaver, Waymond Baker; nieces, Tricia and Delmar Gonzalez ; aunts, Jenny L. Shumake, Linda Sidlo(Lulu), Ann Parker; uncle Albert L. Gandy(Abb);cousins, Bill Shumake, Phillip Shumake, Lana Sidlo Humphreys, Brad Sidlo, Dusty Coulston, Abbey Gandy, Robert Parker, James Parker and Tommy Boyd.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.elliott-hamil.com for the Rogers family.