John Boone Dampier

Services were Thursday, Feb. 4, in Montgomery-Viets Chapel with Pastor Ray Mayfield officiating. Recorded songs “Crying For Me,” “Remember When,” “No Tears In Heaven” and “Rock and Roll,” were played. Burial was in Hopewell Cemetery under the direction of Montgomery-Viets Funeral Home of Buffalo. Escorts were Randy Blecher, Jimmy Smith, Tony Henderson, Judd Carnahan, Sean Davis, James Carl Dampier, Billy Dean Gleason and Ronnie Gleason. Honorary escorts were Eric Boston, Kyle Boston, David Dampier, Harley Dampier and Magnum Dampier. John Boone Dampier, 53, was born June 21, 1956, in Urbana, the son of Lee and Barbara (Barclay) Dampier. He died Feb. 1, 2010, at Washington Regional Hospital, Fayetteville, Ark., after a lengthy illness. He was reared in the Tunas area where he and his sisters and brothers attended school at the old Tunas Schoolhouse. Growing up in a trucking family, he had it in his blood to become a great driver and owner of his own truck just like his dad and his uncle John. He had several jobs as a young man. He worked for a well-drilling operation, sacked feed at the mill, hauled hay and milked cows with his uncles, and worked breaking down truck tires for the man who started Prime Inc. He was a grain hauler by trade and enjoyed slipping up into Iowa with his old buddies just to beat feet back into Missouri, dodging the scales. He was the “Old School Outlaw” trucker. He took a fancy for Branch, where he had many friends that endeared his light heartedness. He could make friends wherever he landed. He later moved to Urbana, with his wife, Brenda, and daughters in 1989. They operated Dampier Feed and Grain, hauling and making custom feed until 1993 when he started hauling refrigerated products. Times were changing and things looked good in other places. He and his family moved to Springdale, Ark., in the summer of 1998 to start a business that has matured and thrived in the weakest of times with his other family, Cargill Inc., for the past 15 years. He was always an adventurous sort of man. He seemed to have a lucky streak that awed all that knew him. He was an avid reader and loved the History Channel. He enjoyed the old truck papers that were stacked in the bunk of the old yellow Pete, going over them more than once for a good deal on a truck. He was a comical, witty and self-made man. He worked hard to impress his customers and competition. He always gave a man down on his luck a second chance. He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Doug Dampier; his sister, Connie Breshears; his aunt, Mary Marley; two uncles: John L. Dampier and Drue Dampier; and his grandparents: James and Edna Dampier and Noah and Zella Barclay. Survivors include his wife, Brenda; his daughters: Faith Ashley Dampier and her fiancé, Sean Davis, and Sarah Beth Dampier, of the home; his sister, Virginia and husband, Dennis Boston, Phillipsburg; his brothers: Brad and wife, Beverly Dampier, Urbana, Jeff and wife, Gloria Dampier, Tunas, Ronnie Dampier, Austin, Texas, and Jack and wife, Amy Dampier, San Diego, Calif.; his nieces: Kristie and husband, Brent Willis, Macks Creek, Kelly and husband, Shane Claspill, Camdenton, Kara and husband, Jesse Flaugher, Tuscumbia, Bobbie Ann Dampier, Springfield, Frankie Dampier and fiancé, Todd Luther, Windsor, Colo., Thea and husband, Eric Carling, Phoenix, Ariz., Bret Dampier and Alex Dampier, both of San Diego, Calif., and Nichole, Stockton, Calif.; nephews: Eric and wife, Julie Boston, Branson, Kyle Boston and fiancee, Felicity Taylor, Phillipsburg, David Dampier, Branch, Harley Dampier, Urbana, Magnum Dampier, Tunas, Adam and wife, Keiko Dampier, Stockton, Calif., and Lee Dampier, Dallas, Texas; his beloved drivers and best friends he thought of as brothers: Jimmy Smith and Randy Blecher; and many cousins, aunts and uncles, and great friends who will miss him.

John Boone Dampier

June 21, 1956 - February 1, 2010