Julia Estelle Lacey “Judy” Jarnigan

December 23, 2012

Julia Estelle Lacey “Judy” Jarnigan, 88, died at her Cedar Creek home near Red Bay on Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012, after an extended illness.

A native of Acton, she graduated from Vincent High School and, like her father before her, attended Massey Business College in Birmingham. She then worked with Moore & Handley Hardware in Birmingham.

After marriage, she taught briefly at James Chapel School in Dempsey in Franklin County. She was a substitute teacher at White Oak School in the Cedar Creek community.

Mrs. Jarnigan was an artist, poet, quilter and gardener. She did bird counts for Cornell University. She did extensive biographical and historical research of her husband’s families. The Lacey lineage of Mrs. Jarnigan passes back to a baron who came to England during the Norman conquest. Her Acton lineage was also prominent in early English history.

A member of the Cedar Creek Missionary Baptist Church, she also served it as Sunday School clerk and teacher.

Funeral services were  Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, at Cedar Creek Missionary Baptist Church with Bros. Silas Oliver and Eddie Wix officiating. Bill Jarnigan delivered the eulogy. Burial was in Cedar Creek Cemetery.

She is survived by daughter Gail Atkins and husband, Neil, of Red Bay; sons William M. Jarnigan, of Florence, Gary Jarnigan and wife, Marlene, of Muscle Shoals, and Phillip Jarnigan and wife, Cathy, of Red Bay; grandchildren Emily Horton and husband, Jamey, of Madison; Betsy Jarnigan and Julie Jarnigan, of Tuscaloosa, and Wesley Jarnigan, of Red Bay; great-grandsons Lucas and Caden Horton, of Madison; brother Gene Lacey, of Birmingham; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, William A. Jarnigan, of Red Bay; parents, John Thomas and Rosa Ethel Lacey, of Shelby County; her brothers Thomas, Jr., of Jefferson County, and Paul Lacey, of Merritt Island, Fla., and sisters Madge Seifert, of Columbiana, and Mary Hoyle, of London.

The family would like to thank nieces Diane Baggett and Katherine Johnson for their daily care of her. Gentiva Home Health and Hospice of Tennessee Valley personnel were also very helpful.