Jamie Humberson

Jamie Louise (Duffy) Humberson passed away just after midnight on Saturday, February 26, 2022, at Hacienda Oaks Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Beeville, Texas. She was born to James Louis and Jennie (Watkins) Duffy on September 29, 1934, in Bay City, Texas, and her family relocated to Beeville soon after her birth. She was married to Lawrence Darrell “Budgie” Humberson for 58 years until his death in 2013.

She is preceded in death by her parents and her husband, and she is survived by her daughter Laurilyn (Lauri), her brother, Dr. George S. Duffy, beloved nieces, nephews, extended family members and a host of friends.

“Miss Jamie,” as so many people of varying ages often called her, wore many hats in her lifetime. She was an excellent student, a cowboy’s wife, a horse show mom extraordinaire, a dedicated 4-H Club Adult Leader, a talented artisan, a fourth-generation Texas rancher, a diehard George Strait fan, a lover of animals of all kinds, a devoted friend and family member, and her only child’s greatest hero.

Jamie warmly remembered her high school years, where she was a standout scholar, earning the rank of salutatorian of the Class of 1953, an honor she was very proud of. Most of all, she was grateful for the enduring friendships she made in high school, and she always looked forward to her class reunions, so she could reconnect and reminisce with her classmates.

Many of Jamie’s fondest memories were of going rodeoing with her husband and later, with their daughter Lauri in tow or asleep on a saddle blanket in the bleachers watching the slack until the wee hours of the morning. The Humbersons had many great friends from this time in their lives, two of whom, Tinker and Zee Urban, stood as best man and matron of honor for Budgie and Jamie when they were married in 1955. Jamie filmed or photographed many calf-roping runs and kept the competitors’ times written down in a notebook she took to every rodeo and practice. In fact, she was the only female in the 45-member Sheriff’s Posse Calf-Roping Club, serving as club reporter and timekeeper.

Learning to haul to rodeos and calf ropings in her youth served her and her family well when her daughter started showing horses as a member of the Boots and Saddles 4-H Horse Club. Jamie was a true horse show mom, who took care of almost everything except prepping horses for halter classes and saddling up. An accomplished seamstress, Jamie sewed Lauri’s show clothes and made sure the saddle blankets matched each ensemble for the day’s competition. Jamie soon volunteered to become an Adult Leader for the horse club and was voted Outstanding Adult Leader by secret ballot of club members in 1975.

Anyone who knew Jamie also knew of her artistic side. She was a gifted leather crafter, having spent many years tooling leather for Buie’s Saddlery and for the family business when Budgie and she took over Hugh Buie’s business. Examples of her handiwork can still be found in area homes and saddle rooms, and she passed this craft down to her daughter as well, guiding Lauri to a State 4-H Leathercraft championship in 1974. Jamie was a skilled ceramicist as well, and her hand-built pieces won many awards in ceramics competitions around the Coastal Bend. Jamie was also regularly asked to help decorate for various events and holidays, and she was often complimented on her keen eye, creativity, and attention to detail.

Jamie’s story would not be complete without mentioning her love for most animals great and small. She mothered and sometimes resurrected many, many stray dogs, sick puppies, frozen kittens, injured horses, abandoned calves, downer cows, and wounded bunnies and birds of every stripe. If, as it is promised, Heaven is a place prepared for us, today Jamie has a lapful of her dogs who’ve gone on before her greeting her with tails wagging and, perhaps, giving her long-awaited puppy kisses to welcome her home.

The Humberson and Duffy families would like to thank the staff at Hacienda Oaks Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center for the attention, patience, and care they provided Mom in her last years. We would also like to thank Mom’s personal caregivers, Frances Cerda Navarro, Velma Rios and most especially, Minnie Barrera (Mamie). We have no words to express our gratitude for their presence in Mom’s life.

Visitation will be held at Galloway & Sons Funeral Home in Beeville, Texas, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, 2022, followed by a graveside service on Saturday, March 5, 2022, at 2 p.m. at the Duffy Family Ranch Cemetery.