Bobby Jack Long

Jack spent his early years in Philadelphia until his family moved to Winston Country where he attended Noxapater High School. Like many young men in the area, he set off to seek his fortune in Detroit, Michigan working in a Ford factory. The cold winters sent him back home to Neshoba County where he enlisted in the Air Force on Feb 8, 1954. Jack was stationed out of Oxnard, California where, as he told his grandchildren, “California weather can’t make up it’s mind to be hot or cold and you can’t even wear the same clothes in the morning, day, and night.” His time in the Air Force included almost a year overseas filled with fascinating stories that his children were still learning about each year. He left the Air Force on Oct 9, 1957 and followed a friend to Port Lavaca, Texas to work on a dredge boat as a maintenance worker. He knew Dorothy Ann Miles growing up and about 3 years later he visited Jackson, Mississippi and as she put “hunted me down” as she was preparing to move to Florida. He called every week and visited her in Florida, and they were married Dec 15, 1962 in Pensacola. After “following the dredge boat” for a couple of years and living in various locations across the Gulf Coast, the young couple moved to Houston, TX and Jack went to work for Cameron Iron Works (which later became Wyman Gordon) and bought his first home where he lived the rest of his life.

Jack was a man of few words, but family was important and he demonstrated it with his actions. Despite working challenging shift work, he made time to coach and support his children’s sports, activities, performances, and the annual pinewood derby. Vacation did not mean exotic or extravagant locations but was spent with family camping and fishing and visiting relatives in Mississippi. In the end, travels to visit family took him many places including New York, Niagara Falls, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Colorado, and even two trips to China.

Jack had a sharp wry sense of humor and until the very end could make everyone laugh with his unexpected quips. He will also be remembered by many as an almost unbeatable “42” Dominoes player.

Jack is preceded in death by his parents James Oscar Long and Mary Virginia McBrayer, and step-mother Lanie Durant, and four siblings – Thomas Aaron Long, James Paul “Pete” Long, Margaret Ann Strickland, and Charles Ralph Long. Jack is survived by his brothers Ronnie Long and Donnie Long; and three sisters – Barbara Kay Heinman, Jenny Lynn Eaves, and Judy Faye Coward; his loving wife Dorothy Ann (Miles) Long, his son Bradley Jack Long and his wife Carrie Mallory Long of Houston, TX; his daughter Charla Janell Serbent and her husband Gary Andrew Serbent of Los Gatos, CA; his son Byron Jay Long and his wife Stacy Greene Long of Houston, TX; four grandchildren – Courtney Ann Long of Houston, TX, Anna Victoria Serbent of San Francisco, CA, Jonathan Andrew Serbent of Austin, TX, and Dillon Jack Long of Houston, TX.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, August 9, at Clay Road Baptist Church, 9151 Clay Road, Houston. Donations can be made to Clay Road Baptist Educational Building Fund.

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