On October 23, 1938, Ann Jaxie Farrell was born in Checotah, Oklahoma to Sewell Henderson Farrell and Lela Virginia (Martin) Farrell. Ann and her family lived in several communities throughout southeast Oklahoma and east Texas as they followed her father, Brother Farrell, to various churches where he served in pastoral ministry. One of those little churches was in Red Oak, Oklahoma where Ann attended first grade with a little boy named Jerry Don Abernathy. The Farrells did not live in Red Oak for long, but Ann and Jerry’s story would not end with this move—it just took an additional 15 years to unfold.

Ann went to high school in Longview, Texas where she earned the title “Miss Pine Tree” and completed one year of college at Connors State before entering the workforce. It was at this point in time, she reconnected with Jerry Don Abernathy when he preached a revival at her father’s church. During that August revival, the two were instantly drawn to one another. They were married three months later, on November 16, 1958. This was the beginning of a beautiful lifelong love affair of 58 years until Jerry Don’s death in December of 2016.

Jerry Don and Ann tirelessly served the Lord for years to come, but in their early years of church service Ann wrestled with doubts regarding her salvation. In the 1980’s a revival broke out in their church when Jerry Don was the director of evangelism for the Oklahoma Southern Baptist Convention. During this revival, Ann realized that her dedication was to her church and religious convictions, not to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was then that Ann recognized her need for a Savior. After a great deal of soul searching, she trusted in Christ alone to save her from the depravity of her sin and to become the Lord of her life.

This event totally changed Ann, transforming the legalism she adhered to for the past 43 years to a love for God and the Bible. As the Lord worked in her life, she was given the opportunity to share all He had done for her with countless individuals through women’s conferences and evangelism. Throughout Jerry Don’s ministry, Ann was a devoted wife and mother who did whatever was needed to help both her family and the church. She especially loved children. In the 1960’s, Ann began making puppets and leading a ministry to help facilitate children’s understanding of the Bible. Her puppet ministry was so effective that Jerry Don enlisted her to make puppets for other churches which she made and sold to Baptist Bookstores and their local TG&Y store.

Ann was spunky, creative, witty, and loving. Each of these attributes were displayed through her hospitality, which she loved to express using her culinary skills, more specifically, through caramel corn and her infamous homemade bread. She selflessly served the local churches where she and Jerry Don ministered together. Ann enjoyed being at church so much, that in these last years, when her memory was failing, she often met her family at the door, dressed with her purse and Bible in hand saying, “Let’s go to church. We are going to be late”. However, this past Sunday, Ann was right on time when Jesus called her home to Heaven, where she attended the grandest service ever.

At 83 years of age, Ann is finally reunited with her beloved husband, Jerry Don, her oldest son, Jerry Don, Jr., her parents, Sewell Henderson Farrell and Lela Virginia Farrell, sisters, Glenda Jean Massingill and Lela Janiece Nossaman and son-in-law, Kurt Louis Ochsner. She is survived by: sister, Nancy Beth Rowland; daughter, Jaxie Ochsner; son, Steven Abernathy; daughter-in-law, Karen Bettis Abernathy; six grandchildren, Hunter Ochsner Beless, Alexandra Ochsner, Drake Ochsner, Stevie Abernathy Thornburg, Hope Abernathy, and Sterling Abernathy; eight great-grandchildren: Hadley Beless, Davy Beless, Bo Beless, Franklin Turner, Theodore Swinburne, Wade Swinburne, Kenzie Ann Thornburg, and Dietrich Ochsner.

Her legacy will live on in the lives of her family, to whom she will always be remembered and adorned. Our beloved Grand Ann will be immensely missed here on Earth but we are rejoicing today knowing that she is exactly where she wants to be- in the presence of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!