James Yarbrough

Services will be at 1:00 P.M. on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at Brooks Chapel with Rev. Patrick Six, associate pastor of First Baptist Church, officiating. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, January 4, 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. at Brooks Chapel. Burial will be in Dreamland Cemetery. James Ervin Yarbrough was born on March 16, 1941 in Brazil, Mississippi to Ervin Wesley and Lida Burke Yarbrough. He married Helen Leona Ussery in Canyon on October 7, 1958. He has been a resident of Canyon since 1975 and worked for Randall County Road as a truck driver for over 25 years. He loved country music and was a talented singer and musician. Learning to play the guitar from his brother-in-law, Otis Gaston, while a teenager in Mississippi, he moved to Texas and began playing in his first country band. He and his band played local venues including VFW, Moose Lodge, Elk Lodge, and special events throughout New Mexico and Texas. He was instrumental in passing along the love of music to his nephew, Alec Gordon, his son, Kris Gordon as well as two grandsons, Jeremy Poort and David Borchers. He continued playing and singing throughout his life until 2009. He also loved fishing and camping. He was preceded in death by his wife on June 4, 2010, by his parents, two brothers, Lawrence Yarbrough and Wesley Burton Yarbrough, and three sisters, Audrey Dunn, Maxine Jennings, and Ora Gaston. He is survived by two daughters, Valerie Poort and husband, Arthur, of Sedalia, Missouri, and Myra Borchers, of Canyon; four sisters, Helen Bradsher, Corrine Blankenship, and Ruby Criddle, all of Canyon, and Billie Avent, of Webb, Mississippi; six grandchildren, Jeremy and Allison Poort, Marcus Borchers, and Elizabeth and Aaron Garrigus, all of Missouri, and David Ervin and Mindy Borchers, Russell Borchers, and Andrew Borchers, all of Canyon; and five great grandchildren, Braxton Poort, Ruby Poort, and Conner Garrigus, all of Missouri, and Jonathon Borchers and Auston Borchers, both of Canyon. The family suggests memorials to the American Lung Association, 8150 Brookriver Dr. Suite 102, Dallas, TX 75247.