Verna Lee Lunsford

Funeral services for Mr. Verna Lee Lunsford, 93, of Mt. Enterprise, TX, will be held at 11:00 A.M., on Thursday, April 2, 2026, at Garrison Funeral Home, with Bro. Kyle Lee officiating. Interment will follow at Walnut Grove Cemetery. Visitation will be held immediately prior to the service beginning at 10:00 A.M.

Verna Lee, or “V.L.” as many knew him, was the youngest of three children, born of Della Williams Lunsford and Edgar Shade Lunsford, Sr. on February 17th, 1933, in Garrison, Texas.  Growing up, he attended Walnut Grove Baptist Church and went to Garrison school.  Verna Lee used to claim that to get to school, he would often ride an old Jenny (female donkey) that would “sling him over her head when she’d had enough.”  Envisioning this gets even more interesting when you add to it the supposed lunch he carried in a metal pail, packed with a biscuit that he would douse with sorghum syrup right into the can.  This may explain why he loved westerns like Gunsmoke so much- a bit of a cowboy!

V.L. went on to meet the love of his life, Demple Lunsford, and they married in December of 1953.  A marriage truly carried out until death did them part; one that lasted longer than many people even live- 72 years.  After they married, Verna Lee was drafted into the Army in 1954 where he oversaw monitoring the radar and was also trained as a mechanic (which explains a lot about his constant habit of “tinkering”).  After two years he was transferred to the Army Reserves in 1956 where he carried out his service obligation before he was honorably discharged in April 1962.  If you knew V.L., you knew how proud he was to be a Veteran and American- he was almost always wearing an Army or Rig Runner cap. 

While he was in the Army, V.L.’s first child, Edd, was born in 1955 followed by his daughter, Dianna in 1957.  While Demple took care of the kids and the home, Verna Lee held various jobs working in the log woods for his dad’s business, drove a truck for Wanda Petroleum hauling butane, drove a truck for Henderson Clay Products hauling bricks, opened Lunsford Supply and Lunsford’s Exxon (he ran the Exxon while Demple tended to the hardware store), then ultimately worked for Rig Runner out of Kilgore where he eventually retired after more than 20 years of service before he passed the torch on to his grandson, Clint, whom he loved to carry on numerous trips and taught how to drive a big rig. 

Verna Lee  and Demple also loved to travel with their camper trailer and notably, he loved hauling that camper with his Ford truck.  Up until his final weeks, he constantly asked about his truck.  V.L. was a big, seemingly intimidating man.  Before they started constructing homes and buildings with higher ceilings and door frames, it was not uncommon to see him duck his head to walk into a room.  Despite his intimidating stature, V.L. had a soft spot in his heart, particularly for his family and his cat, Rosie (who he never called by name).   He loved feeding the birds and sharing the harvest from his pear and pecan trees.  He was a proud man- proud of his country, property, trucks, and proud of his family.  Verna Lee always bragged about how his grandkids worked in the oil industry when his granddaughter, Jenna went to work for Lufkin Industries while his grandson, Clint, was hauling oilfield equipment.  He was also proud his other grandson, Corey, carried on the family tire store business, Lunsford Tire.

Verna Lee is preceded in death by his parents, Edgar Shade Lunsford, Sr. and Della Williams Lunsford; his brother, Edgar Shade “Junior” Lunsford; his sister, Tina Lunsford Smith; his son, Edd William Lunsford; and just recently in February, his wife, Demple Harris Lunsford. 

He is survived by his daughter, Dianna and husband, Lee Richards of Nacogdoches; his daughter-in-law, Pam Lunsford; his grandson, Clint Richards, and wife, Gwen of Nacogdoches; his grandson, Corey Black of Mt. Enterprise; his granddaughter, Jenna, and husband, James Carpenter of Nacogdoches; his great granddaughters, Kinslee Barnhill, Rylan Richards, and Sawyer Richards, all of Nacogdoches; and numerous nieces and nephews.

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