Jack Cone McCain

Jack Cone McCain died in his home in Menard, Tx, on Monday, December 16, 2019. He was born on June 23, 1942, in Presidio, Tx to parents Barcy Brown McCain and Murry McCain. Jack was the fifth of eight children. He was a 32nd degree Mason and a member of Fort San Saba Lodge and Cowboy Church in Menard. Jack attended school in Rankin, Tx, where he met the love of his life, Jo Carolyn Whitehead. The high school sweethearts married six months after graduation on November 30, 1961, in the home of his maternal grandmother and grandfather, Mary (Granny) and Barney Bruce (Pappy) Brown. Jack's mother, Barcy, performed the ceremony as she was a Justice of the Peace in Upton County. Jack began working at 5- or 6-years old selling newspapers on the streets of Rankin, where he earned the nickname "Hardrock" when he was in a pickup accident. A bystander commented that Jack must have a head as hard as a rock. As stories go, Jack tried persistently to sell a paper to a local businessman. When the businessman eventually told Jack he couldn't read, Jack told him to buy one anyway and stick it in under his arm so folks wouldn't think him an ignorant SOB. In junior high and high school, Jack cowboyed around Upton County, including several years for Margaret Owens. Jack roughnecked throughout the Permian Basin in the 1960s before entering the construction world. He became a Journeyman Pipe fitter in 1968 and worked around the country with his best friends George Bryant and Jim Turner for several years before returning to the oilfield in 1976. Jack moved his family back to Menard in 1978 as his work took him across the Middle East. In 1981 Jack began working as a Drilling Foreman and continued this for the next 30 years. Jack enjoyed hunting and raised his family on venison. He fished in the Rio Grande as a boy and never lost his love for it, making his last trip to "The River" in 2010. Jack was passionate, and some would say relentless, about work. He taught his boys, and countless others, the value of working hard. When he returned to the oilfield in 1976 as a driller, he went through 50 hands in two months before finding three that were acceptable. One of those three was Popeye Graham. Nobody has ever forgotten about working for Jack in any capacity. They are all better men for that experience. Jack is survived by his wife, Jo Carolyn McCain of Menard, and their four sons and families. Russell and Anita Musgrove of Poth, Tx, and their three children, Tausha, Talon, and Tabor. Bruce and Melissa McCain of Cypress, Tx, and their daughter Lauren. Cone and LaShawn McCain of Lubbock, Tx, and their two children Rell and Emory. Mitchell and Jessica McCain of Raton, NM, and their two children, Michael Jud and Dayanara, and Mitchell's son and daughter Dackota and Elyssa. Jack also has several great-grandchildren. He is also survived by siblings Murray, Gene, Mary Lou, Betty, and Beth Ann. Jack was preceded in death by his father in 1958, mother in 2001, brothers Bruce in 2001, Neal in 2019, and his best friend George in 2019. Services will be at on Saturday, December 21, at 1:00 at Cowboy Church, Menard, Texas, with burial to follow at Whon Cemetery, near Santa Anna, Texas. Pallbearers will be Rell McCain, Michael Jud McCain, Dackota McCain, Talon Musgrove, Tabor Musgrove, Jud Kothmann, and Jacob Kraft. Honorary Pallbearers include Jim Turner, Harold Graham, Scott McHorse, Cody Bryant, and Mark Menzies The family asks that in lieu of flowers that memorials be made to Menard Cowboy Church, Menard, Tx 76859, or the charity of choice.