Jerry Cantrell

Sherman- Funeral services for Jerry Don Cantrell will be held at 2:00 PM Saturday, July 2 at First Baptist Church of Sherman. Rev. Randy Shoulders and Rev. Dale Gore will officiate. Private committal services will be held at Friendship Cemetery with Mike Barnes, Dean Gilbert, Al Younts, David Bedgood, Johnny Shoulders, Tommy Hudspeth, Andy Lease and Dr. Mike Benson serving as pallbearers. Jerry's grandsons, Cole, Ryan, Jacob, and Jackson Cantrell and granddaughter, Elizabeth Cantrell will be special pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be Mike Tracy, David Parker, Bob Boland, Ebbie Watson, Robert Allen, David Taylor, Charles Byler, Suzanne Carpenter, Don Sharp of Texoma Driving School and Joe Taylor's Sunday School Class. Mr. Cantrell, 78, passed away Tuesday, June 28 at Wilson N. Jones Medical Center.

Jerry was born March 19, 1938 in Pampa, Texas to the late O.L. and Sara (Browder) Cantrell. He moved to Ranger, Texas in 1943 and graduated from Ranger High School in 1957 and Sul Ross University in Alpine in 1962. He later earned his Master's Degree from East Texas State University. On June 8, 1963, he married Jane Phillips in Vernon, Texas.

Jerry began his football coaching career in McCamey, Texas where he met his future wife Jane. He would go on to coach high school football in Lewisville, Longview, and Bowie before settling in Sherman where he served as the defensive coordinator at Sherman High School with Tommy Hudspeth from 1971-1978. One of the highlights of his coaching career was being invited to coach the Texas High School All-Star game in 1977 in the Cotton Bowl. Jerry was a longtime member of the Texas High School Coaches Association. In 1979, Coach Cantrell began coaching as an assistant at Austin College and won the NAIA Division II National Championship before retiring from coaching in 1982.

In retirement, Jerry worked as an insurance agent for Horace Mann Ins, owned Texoma Driving School from 1994 to the present, and co-owned Carriage House Antiques with his wife Jane. He and Jane enjoyed spending time in their Colorado home and watching their grandchildren at their sporting events. He attended First Baptist Church where he served as a deacon and was a regular at the Sunset Dairy Queen 10:00 Coffee Club.

Jerry will be remembered as a loving husband, father, and grandfather. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Jane of Sherman; two sons, Jeff Cantrell and wife Carolyn of Frisco and Jerel Cantrell of Dallas; five grandchildren, Cole, Ryan, Jacob, Jackson, and Elizabeth; sister, Diane Henderson and husband John of Lewisville; sister-in-law, Martha Cantrell of Sugarland; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Jimmy Cantrell.

The family will receive friends from 5:00 to 6:30 PM Friday at Waldo Funeral Home. The register book can be signed online at waldofuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the SHS Athletic Booster Club in Coach Jerry Cantrell's name at PO Box 1032 Sherman, TX 75091. A scholarship fund is being established in his honor that will be given to student athletes at Sherman High School.