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Don T. Jobes, Jr., age 86, passed away on August 15, 2015 in
Houston, Texas. He was born in Rocksprings, Texas to Don Temple Jobes,
Sr. and Frances Marie Goodwin.
As a young man he worked on ranches in West Texas, where he
developed his love for cattle and agriculture. He continued his love for the
livestock industry in high school where he was active in the FFA and 4-H
programs in Alpine, Texas. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree from
Sul Ross University in 1953 and received his Master's in Agricultural
Education at Sam Houston State Teachers College in 1954. He did post-
graduate work at Texas A & M University.
Jobes taught vocational agriculture at Cypress-Fairbanks High School
for nine years before joining the Texas Education Agency in Austin, Texas
where he supervised agriculture teachers across the state. In 1956, he
was named the executive secretary for the state association of FFA. He
also served as livestock superintendent for the Houston Livestock Show
and Rodeo (HLSR) during this time. On January 1, 1967, Jobes joined the
HLSR as assistant general manager where he served for 31 years.
He retired to his J7 Ranch near East Bernard, Texas in 1998 where he
raised registered Red Brangus cattle. He produced both show and com-
mercial Red Brangus cattle and was largely responsible for introducing
the International Red Brangus Show to Houston. In 2014 he was honored
by the International Red Brangus Breeders (IRBBA) with the lifetime
achievement award.
He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Mary Helen Jobes; daughter,
Carrie Jobes Hitchcock and her husband Bob; son, Casey Jobes and wife
Debra; daughter, Julie Ray Dunn; son, Robert Lee Dunn Jr. and his wife
Rhonda; seven granddaughters, two grandsons, and four great-grand-
children.
Don Jobes was a SPECIAL Friend to Red Brangus and many of us. His friendship, advice,
knowledge and love for Red Brangus will be missed so much. I can remember the day that
Jim Hunt, Johnny Kopycinski and I had an appoint-
ment with Mr. Jobes and our mission was to ask Don
if the Houston Livestock Show would allow
International
Red
Brangus to have our own
show in Houston. Well
the beginning of the
meeting and the next two
hours didn’t go so well
because his answer was
polite but to the point,
NO. Well Mr. Jobes didn’t
know how persistent us
three could be and over
the next almost three
hours. We kept giving him
reasons why he should let
us show our 3/8 x 5/8 Red
Brangus cattle in Houston. I can still remember him leaning over
his desk when he finally said YES, and that’s when he told us you
better not let me down. He clearly said
we better have 50 head in the show and we did. Well a few of us
took more than we should or ever had before, but we had made a
deal with Mr. Jobes and weren’t going to let him down. The show
went off with success and history was made. Thanks to Mr. Jobes,
the IRBBA has built up the show and is now the largest Red
Brangus show. Thanks Don, we would not have let you down then,
nor in the future. We were honored when Don Jobes retired from
the Houston Livestock Show to have him sell his cattle and
become a fine Red Brangus breeder. ~Don Cox
In Memory of Don Jobes
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