John Farrar

WACO, Texas -- John Senter Farrar died peacefully Monday, Sept. 23, 2019, at the home of his daughter, Diane Farrar Boles, in Waco.

John was born May 24, 1933, in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Family hardships suffered during the Depression, however, caused John and his siblings, his mother and his maternal grandparents to ultimately settle in Scott County, Missouri.

Although John was born with hearing, he became deaf as a little boy due to an illness. He was then sent to attend school at Arkansas School for the Deaf (ASD) in Little Rock. At a tender young age, he frequently was placed on a Greyhound bus to attend school in Little Rock. He bravely made this journey alone, changing buses in Memphis, Tennessee, with nothing but a cardboard note tied around his neck providing his identification and destination. This act was to be one of his earliest displays of courage and fortitude marking his character for the remainder of his life.

John graduated from ASD in 1954, serving as class president. He was also a member of the school's basketball, football and baseball teams during his junior high and high school years. After graduation, John returned to Scott County, where he took his first job in the newspaper printing business. In 1956, he married Mary Jo Eftink, a beautiful deaf woman from Portageville, Missouri.

The couple moved to Memphis shortly after the birth of their first daughter, where he began his lifetime career working for The Commercial Appeal. By the early 1960s, John and Mary Jo completed their family with two more daughters.

John was a wonderful father to his three girls. In exchange for beauty shop sessions where he endured having his hair plastered to his head with bobby pins and barrettes, he taught his daughters to water ski, play ball, work with tools and to generally be strong, rugged and self-reliant. He was also a fatherly example of genuine faith in God, as he would occasionally wake his second-born daughter with his 3 a.m. mealtime prayers he prayed aloud upon returning home from work.

John retired from The Commercial Appeal in 1994, and he and Mary Jo moved to their dream cabin near Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas they, along with lifelong friend Don Brannan, helped build. Upon the death of Mary Jo in 2015, John moved to Waco to live with his firstborn daughter, Diane. Over time, he was able to overcome the grief of losing his wife by finding new purpose and value as an assistant teacher to Diane in the college sign language classes she conducted. He was beloved by the students as well as many new friends he made in Waco.

He is survived by his daughters, Diane Farrar Boles, Doris "April" Farrar (David) Guin of Birmingham, Alabama, and Debbie Farrar of Greers Ferry. Also left to treasure his memory are grandchildren, Christy Boles (Andrew) McAllister of Belfast, Ireland, Erin Boles (Justin) Schwind of Fayetteville, North Carolina, John C. Guin (Laura) of Atlanta, Kristen P. Guin of Washington, D.C., Emily C. Guin of Boulder, Colorado, and Mary Grace Farrar of Little Rock. John also leaves behind great-grandchildren, Daniel T. McAllister, Michael C. McAllister, Grace Jane Guin and Bexar Senter Schwind.

In addition to his wife, Mary Jo, John was predeceased by his parents, William Edmond Farrar and Grace Lee Jackson; brothers, Edmond Dexter "Jimmy," Lawrence Earskin "Larry" and Winford Lowell Farrar; and sister, Zana Caress Farrar Colevas.

Visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Grace Gardens Funeral Home in Waco.

A memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 26 at Portageville Cemetery (weather permitting).

Delisle Funeral Home in Portageville is in charge of arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Arkansas School for the Deaf in Little Rock or St. Eustachius Catholic Church in Portageville.