John Morris Rucker

John Morris Rucker was born on January 8, 1928 to Joseph Herman and Mary Ophelia (Fuller) Rucker on a farm in what is now Abilene, Texas. He was the sixth of nine children. All five of his older siblings have preceded him in death. Lloyd Rucker and wife Judy of McKinney, Texas, Melba Boozer of Abilene, Texas, and Harold Rucker of Richardson, Texas survive as the remaining children of this wonderful farm family.

Along with all of the Rucker children, Morris had his chores on the farm. Some days his older brother would saddle Shorty the horse for him and, following his father’s instructions, at a certain time he would climb on the water trough in order to get on Shorty and ride out to check the cattle or move them to another pasture. He learned to milk the Jersey cows at a young age and after his father’s death in 1957 Morris ran the Rucker Dairy for a few years.

During his teenage years, Morris went to a national youth convention in Cleveland, Ohio. It was during that gathering that he gave his life to the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. He didn’t talk about it much, but it must have been really special, because when he did talk about it, it was if he was reliving the moment and he was overcome with tears. We give thanks to God for every such occasion in any person’s life.

Morris’ father was determined to see that all of his children received a college education. He made arrangements with McMurry College (now University) to provide fresh milk for the college in exchange for educating his children. At times he also had the contract to haul off the scraps from the cafeteria for his hogs. As a result Morris graduated McMurry with a Bachelor’s degree in Business in 1948. He was a leader in college serving his class as Finance Chairman and as Vice President.

On July 23, 1948, Morris married his college sweetheart, Wanda Partain of Sweetwater, Texas. To this union were born twins, David now married to Camille and living in Houston, and Ann now married to Gary Laver now living in Venezuela; Paul now married to Jackie and living in Somerville; Larry now married to Leslie and living in Houston; and Randy now married to Linda and living in Houston.

Besides the years spent running the family dairy and farm, Morris also spent time in a number of other jobs. He sold pre-need lots as Elmwood Cemetery in Abilene, worked at West Texas Utilities selling appliances, did contract farm work, sold insurance, and sold grain and cattle trailers for Wilson Trailer Company.

On April 25, 1969 Morris married Dorothy Self and settled in Houston. Dorothy brought two sons to that marriage: Rusty Covert now married to Shelley and living in League City, and Byron Covert living in Houston. Within a year a daughter was born, Shari Kay now married to D. W. Brotherton and living in Tomball. This brings the total number of descendants to eight children, 23 grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren.

During these years Morris drove a truck hauling rice to Mississippi, worked for an oil company, started his own business, Morris Service Company, repairing and installing hydraulic lifts and jacks. Upon retirement from that business he worked for SCI delivering company mail and transporting bodies.

In Houston Morris became an active member of First Baptist Church of Spring Branch where he continued his life of service in various ways including as Chairman of the Grounds Committee, and one of the Usher/Visitors. It was during one of those days of ushering that he met Reed Mallard from Ohio. Reed became one of the many unofficially adopted children as he worked his way through school and became a Funeral Home owner in Jefferson City, Missouri.

In October of 2013, while walking in the backyard, he had a sharp pain in his foot. His lower leg began to swell and the doctors thought it was a spider bite, even though no bite mark was ever identified. We now think this was the beginning of the infection in his left leg. It seemed to come and go until about a month ago, when his leg began to swell left of and just below his knee. It turned out to be an infection related to his artificial knee which had been in for over 13 years. During his two weeks in the hospital, he underwent three surgeries, agreed to dialysis on a temporary basis, and endured extreme pain while the wonderful doctors did their best to save the leg and his life. He died on Easter Sunday morning, April 5, 2015

Family visitation will be at Heights Funeral Home, 1317 Heights Blvd, Houston, TX 77008

(713) 862-8844 from 6-8 pm on Wednesday, April 8. The service will also be at Heights at 10 am on Thursday, April 9, with the internment immediately following at Memorial Oaks Cemetery, next to his sister and brother-in-law, Ruth and Nelson Hickok, at 13001 Katy Fwy., Houston, (281) 497-2210

This is the life of Morris Rucker, one who was touched by the Master’s hand.