Life History

Other facts

Notes

• Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997
  Garry [sic] Lynn Jenkins
  Birth 19 Aug 1952 Hardeman County
  Gender Male
  Father's Name Orville Lee Jenkins
  Mother's Name Lou Ila Gregory
  
  I was surprised to find the name had been misspelled on the birth index.  Gary's name was spelled Gary.  I never saw it spelled with two Rs until years later when doing genealogy research.  Our mother was surprised to learn this also when I told her.
  
  A copy of the birth certificate issued in 1953, however, has the correct spelling.  The error must have been in the entry into the Index.
  
  Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1932
  Gary Lynn Jenkins
  Birth 18 August 1952 Memorial Hospital, Quanah, Hardeman County, Texas
  Residence of Mother P O Box 566, Quanah, Hardeman County, Texas
  Father Orville Lee Jenkins, born Oklahoma, age 40, Radio Station Owner
  Mother Lou Ila Gregory, born Oklahoma, Age 31, Housewife
  Two other children now living
  Informant Lou Ila Jenkins
  Attending physician P L Salkeld, Quanah, Texas, Signed 25 August 1952
  Birth certificate # 142- registered 2 September 1952 in Quanah, Texas
  [back]
  Copy issued 20 October 1953
  
  Our mother told me Gary had his 4th birthday in Yosemite National Park, while our family was on a one-month vacation in the west.
  --  Lou Ila Gregory Jenkins, personal communication to Orville Boyd Jenkins, July 2014
  
  Quanah, Texas, City Directory 1962-63
  Jenkins, Orville L, Lou Ila
  Jenkins' Coin-O-Matic
  Orville Boyd 14, Gregory Wayne 11, Gary Lynn 10
  909 W 11th, (O)
  MO 3-8136
  
  ----------------
  Lou Ila married Orville Jenkins, an appliance repairman in Chickasha, OK.  They had three sons:  Orville Boyd, who has been a Baptist Missionary to mainly East Africa for over forty years, Gregory Wayne, who lives in West Virginia, where he is a music minister.  Gary Lynn, their youngest, was killed in an auto accident in Arkansas when only nineteen years old.
  
  When Lou Ila and Orville were married, they spent several years in Quanah, Texas, where Orville owned a radio station -- KOLJ (the OLJ representing his name, Orville Lee Jenkins).  They divorced in 1964 and Orville moved to Arkansas.
  
  Lou Ila later moved to Vernon, Texas before moving back to Lindsay in 1972.  Lou Ila has been an Avon representative for over thirty-two years.
  --  Pikes Peak History Book 1908-2008, pp 27, courtesy of Loretta Gregory Gay of Lindsay, Oklahoma, January 2020
  ----------------
  
  Gary and Greg went to live with their father in Arkansas in 1965.  Exact date is not known.  They attended Conway high School.
  
  U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012
  Gary Jenkins
  Sophomore
  Estimated birth year abt 1952
  Conway High School, Conway, Arkansas
  1968 Wampus Cat Yearbook
  
  U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999
  Gary Jenkins
  Junior
  Estimated Age 17, Birth Year abt 1952
  1969 Wampus Cat Yearbook, Conway High School, Conway, Arkansas, USA
  
  Gary graduated from Conway High School, in Conway, Arkansas in 1970, and entered State College of Arkansas in the same town.  While still in high school, he was a member of The New Light, a folk-rock band started by Gary's brother Orville Boyd.  The band continued playing after Orville graduated in January 1971.  Gary and his brother Greg were featured in the Scroll yearbook of SCA on a page for the Baptist Student Union (BSU), where the New Light often played for functions.
  
  U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012
  Gary Lynn Jenkins
  Gregory W Jenkins
  Residence Conway, Permanent Address Rt 1, Box 208, Vilonia AR
  Sophomore photos for both, p 272
  BSU Members, New Light Photo on p 179
  Scroll Yearbook, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas, 1972, p 363 (index)
  
  The Scroll yearbook photo of The New Light in the 1972 edition of the Scroll was taken not long before Gary was killed in a car accident in April 1972.  The accident occurred on Highway 5 near Cabot, Arkansas, while the New Light was on the way to a musical program at a church in Cabot.  The story of his car accident was carried by his hometown newspaper in Quanah, Texas.
  
  ----------------------
  (Photo)
  GARY JENKINS in critical condition after accident.
  
  Gary Jenkins Hurt Critically In Auto Mishap
  
  Gary Jenkins, 19. of Conway, Arkansas is in the intensive care unit of the Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas following a two car collision near Cabot, Arkansas Saturday evening.  Jenkins, a former Quanah resident, is the son of Orville Lee Jenkins of Vilonia, Arkansas, who lived in Quanah and established Radio Station KOLJ in Quanah in 1952, and Mrs Lou Ila Jenkins of Vernon.
  
  Jenkins is in critical condition with a head injury and has been unconscious since the accident.  According to his family in Arkansas, Jenkins was on his way to a Baptist Youth Hall where he was to play with the religious rock band, “The New Light” when the accident occurred.  Jenkins and the group was [sic] in Quanah and played at the First Baptist Church last Christmas.
  --  Quanah Tribune Chief, Quanah, Texas, 30 March 1972, p 6
  ----------------------
  
  Gary died in Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was buried a few days later in Vilonia, Arkansas.
  
  Arkansas Death Certificate
  Gary Lynn Jenkins
  Occupation student
  Address SCA Campus, Conway, Arkansas
  Birth 19 August 1952 Texas, Age 19
  Father Orville Lee Jenkins
  Mother Lou Ila Gregory
  Informant Orville Lee Jenkins, Vilonia, Arkansas 72173
  Death 5 April 1972 Baptist Hospital, Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas
  Cause of death Severe Brain Injury, Cerebral Contusion for 10 days, due to auto accident 25 March 1972
  Burial 8 April 1972 Cypress Valley Cemetery, Vilonia, Arkansas by McNutt Funeral Home, Conway, Arkansas 72032
  Filed 18 April 1972
  
  The Log Cabin Democrat of Conway, Arkansas, where Gary lived, ran a death announcement on the day of the death, then ran an the next day.
  
  ----------------
  Injuries fatal to Jenkins
  
  Gary Lynn Jenkins, 19, of Mayflower (Faulkner County, Arkansas), died at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock early today (April 5, 1972), from injuries suffered March 25 in a two-vehicle collision south of Vilonia.
  
  Young Jenkins, a sophomore at State College of Arkansas, sustained severe head injuries in the accident.  He had been in a coma since the accident.
  
  The body was removed to McNutt Funeral Home [in Conway, Arkansas].
  
  Jenkins was traveling alone and was east-bound on Highway 89, when his car was rammed at an intersection by another automobile driven by Jan Sharp, 17, of Heber Springs, who was going south on Highway 107
  
  State Trooper Eddie Seaton said Sharp's car went down an embankment and crashed into a barn.  Sharp and three passengers were only slightly injured.
  
  Jenkins, who played with a musical group, was en route to a performance at the time of the accident.  His brother, Greg Jenkins, was following in another automobile.
  
  Jenkins is a son of Lee Jenkins of Vilonia.
  
  The youth was a former Log Cabin Democrat carrier and later was employed by the newspaper as a part-time office worker.
  
  --  Log Cabin Democrat, Conway, Arkansas, 5 April, 1972 Gary's full obituary appeared in the Log Cabin Democrat and the Arkansas Gazette of Little Rock, as well as syndicated through the Gazette's statewide news service.
  ----------------
  
  ----------------
  Jenkins rites to be held Saturday
  
  Gary Lynn Jenkins, age 19, of Conway, Arkansas
  Funeral to be Saturday (8 April 1972) at the Landmark Missionary Baptist Church of Vilonia, Arkansas
  Death Wednesday (5 April 1972) of injuries from a car collision
  Rev James Floyd officiating the service, burial in Cypress Valley Cemetery by McNutt Funeral Home of Conway
  He was a sophomore at State College of Arkansas in Conway.
  Born 19 August 1952 in Quanah, Texas, son of Orville Lee Jenkins of Vilonia, Arkansas and Mrs Lou Ila Gregory Jenkins of Vernon, Texas
  He had lived in Conway 8 years, was a graduate of Conway High School and a member of the Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship and the Baptist Student Union.
  
  Surviving:  brothers Orville Boyd Jenkins, a missionary to Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa, and Gregory Jenkins of Conway; stepmother Mrs Aretha Jenkins of Vilonia; half-sister Michele Jenkins; step-brothers Floyd Joe and James McPherson and step-sisters Jessie McPherson and Janet McPherson, all of Vilonia; and his grandfather Andy Gregory of Lindsay, Oklahoma
  
  One of the pallbearers was Winston Hardman, Director of the Baptist Student Union of SCA.
  
  This story was accompanied by a story that Rev Larry Pillow, former director of the Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship, was raising funds to pay for the return air fare from Nairobi, Kenya, for Gary's brother Rev Orville Boyd Jenkins to return to Conway for the funeral services.  The article comments that Orville had been notified of the death and the flight from Nairobi to Arkansas is about 15 hours.
  
  --  Log Cabin Democrat, Conway, Arkansas, 6 April, 1972
  ----------------
  
  ----------------
  Injuries Are Fatal To Jenkins
  Gazette State News Service
  
  Conway --
  Gary Lynn Jenkins, 19, of Conway (Faulkner County, Arkansas), died at a Little Rock hospital Wednesday [5 April 1972] of injuries suffered March 25 in a two-car collision south of Vilonia (Faulkner County), officials said.
  
  Jenkins, a sophomore at State College of Arkansas, sustained severe head injuries and had been in a coma since the accident.
  
  Jenkins played with a musical group and was en route to a performance at the time of the accident.
  
  He was a member of the Baptist Student Union.
  
  Survivors include his father and stepmother, Mr and Mrs Lee Jenkins of Vilonia; his mother, Mrs Lou Jenkins of Texas; two brothers, Orville Boyd Jenkins of South Africa [East Africa] and Gregory of Conway; a half-sister, Michele Jenkins of Vilonia, and two stepbrothers, Floyd Joe and James McPherson, both of Vilonia; and two stepsisters, Misses Jessie and Janet McPherson, both of Vilonia.
  
  Funeral will be by McNutt Funeral Service.
  
  --  Gazette State News Service, Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Arkansas, 6 April, 1972
  ----------------
  
  The funeral was held in the building of the Landmark Baptist Church, Vilonia, where Gary had been serving as the Music Director, having followed me in that position after I left the church in 1968.  The funeral and burial took place on Saturday 13 April 1972.  The funeral was delayed some because I was in the Northern Frontier of Kenya, and it took some time to get back after getting the news of his death.
  --  Orville Boyd Jenkins
  
  Several newspapers in Texas and Arkansas ran the story on Gary's death.  Included here is a portion of several more.  The first is a complete story from Quanah, Texas, where Gary was born and grew up.  The Amarillo paper ran it most likely because of the regional interest.
  
  --------------------------
  Troy Bryant and John Bryant attended the funeral of Gary Jenkins Saturday in Vilonia. Arkansas Gary Jenkins Rites Held Saturday Funeral.
  
  Services were conducted Saturday [8 April] at 1:30 pm at the Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Vilonia, Arkansas for Gary Lynn Jenkins, 19, of Conway who died last Wednesday [5 April] of injuries received March 25 in a two vehicle collision south of Vilonia near Cabot, Arkansas.  Jenkins, a former resident of Quanah, moved to Conway from here in 1965.
  
  The Rev James Floyd officiated and burial was at the Cypress Valley Cemetery by McNutt Funeral Home of Conway.  Young Jenkins was a sophomore at the State College of Arkansas in Conway.  Jenkins was born August 19, 1952 in Quanah, Texas, a son of Orville Lee Jenkins of Vilonia and Mrs Lou Ila Jenkins of Vernon, Texas.  He lived in Conway and was a graduate of Conway High School.  He was a member of the Baptist Student Union and the Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship.
  
  Also surviving are two brothers, the Rev Orville Boyd Jenkins, a missionary to Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa, and Gregory Jenkins of Conway; his step mother, Mrs Aretha Jenkins of Vilonia; a half sister, Michele Jenkins; two step brothers, Floyd Joe and James McPherson, all of Vilonia and his grandfather, Andy Gregory of Lindsay, Oklahoma.
  --  Quanah Tribune Chief, Quanah, Texas, 13 April 1972, p 7, via NewspaperArchive.com
  --------------------------
  
  "Elsewhere Gary L. Jenkins Funeral rites and burial for Gary L. Jenkins, a native of Quanah, were held Saturday [8 April] in Vilonia, Ark. Mr. Jenkins, who moved from Quanah in 1965, died Wednesday [5 April] of injuries suffered March 25 in ...."
  --  Amarillo Sunday News Globe, Amarillo, Texas, 9 April 1972, via NewspaperArchive.com
  
  "LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Gary Jenkins, 19, of Mayflower died in a hospital here Wednesday [5 April] after being injured March 25 at the Arkansas 107-89 junction south [east] of Vilonia when his car crashed with one driven by Jan Sharp. 17. of Heber Springs ...."
  --  Camden News, Camden, Arkansas, 6 April 1972, via NewspaperArchive.com
  
  Note that the last story and one earlier story report that Gary was from Mayflower.  However, he lived in Conway, Arkansas.  His brother Greg says that he and Gary had both lived in Mayflower before they moved to Conway again, where they had become the caretakers of the Baptist Student Union building on the State College of Arkansas Campus.  They were living there when Gary died.
  
  The leading newspaper in Garvin County, Oklahoma, where his mother was from, ran the story of his death and the funeral in the foll wing obituary.
  
  ----------------
  Mr Jenkins
  
  Funeral Services for Gary Lenn [Lynn] Jenkins, kin of county residents, was held last Saturday [8 April 1972] in the Landmark Baptist Church at Vilonia, Ark.  Burial was in Cypress Valley Cemetery near Vilonia.
  
  Gary Lynn was born August 19, 1952 in Quanah, Texas and died April 5 at the Baptist Medical Center, Little Rock, Ark.  At the time of his death, he was a student at State College of Arkansas in Conway, Ark, and a member of Landmark Baptist Church of Vilonia.
  
  He was also a member of the "The New Light" singing group, who had been touring the state of Arkansas in religious concerts.  His death was the result of an automobile accident which occurred while enroute from Conway to Cabot, Arkansas for a singing engagement at a youth fellowship at First Baptist Church.
  
  Surviving include his mother, Lou Ila Jenkins of Vernon, Texas; his father and stepmother, Mr and Mrs Orville L Jenkins of Vilonia, Arkansas;  two brothers, Orville Boyd Jenkins of Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa and Gregory Wayne Jenkins of Conway; one half sister Michele Jenkins of Vilonia; two step brothers Joe and James McPherson and step sisters Jessie and Janet McPherson, all of Vilonia and his maternal grandfather, Andy Gregory of Lindsay.  He was the nephew of Mrs Ernest Spann of Pauls Valley.
  
  --  Pauls Valley Democrat, Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, about 10 April, 1972
  ----------------
  
  The next school year, 1973, Gary's name and photo were included in the memorial section of the university yearbook, honoring students and faculty who passed away during the previous year.
  
  U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012
  Gary Lynn Jenkins, memorial
  Published in memorials in the yearbook the year after Gary's death.
  Estimated birth year 1953
  Scroll Yearbook, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas, 1973
  
  U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-Current
  Gary Jenkins
  Born 21 Aug 1952
  Died Apr 1972
  SSN 429-02-0957 issued Arkansas (1967)
  
  U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
  
  U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 No Image
  Gary L Jenkins
  Birth Date 21 Aug 1952
  Death Date Apr 1972
  Claim Date 13 Apr 1972 (report of death)
  SSN 429020957
  
  Gary's cousin Ervin Mize has made a memorial for Gary on Find a Grave.
  
  Gary Lynn Jenkins
  Birth Aug 19, 1952
  Death 5, 1972
  Parents Orville Lee Jenkins (1912 - 1987)
  Burial Cypress Valley Cemetery, Faulkner County, Arkansas, USA
  Created by Ervin Mize Jan 14, 2010
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #46663457, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=46663457

Sources

• 1. Social Security Death Index
• 2. Orville Boyd Jenkins, Personal Knowledge
• 3. Arkansas Death Certificate
• 4. Texas, Birth Certificate
• 5. Obituaries from Arkansas
• 6. Death Announcements
• 7. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999
• 8. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012
  • Date: 2010;
• 9. Quanah, Texas, City Directory 1962-63
• 10. Lou Ila Gregory Jenkins, Personal Communication
• 11. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012
• 12. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
• 13. U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2012
• 14. Pikes Peak History Book 1908-2008
  • Location: Lindsay, Oklahoma; Date: 2008;