John Morse Haynes

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McLEAN – Memorial services for John Morse Haynes, 93, will be Wednesday, 2 PM, Jan. 15, at McLean Methodist Church with the Rev. Thacker Haynes, pastor, officiating. Ted D. Simmons also will speak. Burial will follow in the Haynes Family Cemetery on the Denworth Line Camp ranch. Arrangements are by Robertson Funeral Directors of McLean. 

Visitation will be from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Robertson Funeral Directors, 100 Fourth St., McLean, TX 79057.

Johnny passed away in Pampa on Jan. 12, 2025.

Johnny was a member of a pioneer Texas Panhandle family. He was born Feb. 20, 1931, in McLean, and the family moved to Pampa in 1934. He and his brother Sammy attended school in Pampa until 1944. Johnny graduated from McLean High School in 1949.

He married Glenda Joyce Smith on Jan. 22, 1950, at First Baptist Church in McLean, and they started a family of four boys and a girl, living on his grandfather’s ranch north of McLean. He was part of the third generation to operate the ranch following its establishment in 1900 by J.S. Morse. He raised cattle, horses, and for a few years hogs on the ranch. In the 1960s, he, his brother and his father, John C. Haynes, operated Triangle Ranch Feed and Cattle Company west of McLean.

When the ranch was divided, Johnny and Joyce’s portion was named Denworth Line Camp with a campstool brand. They lived on the site of the former Denworth community.

Johnny and Joyce were married 63 years until her death on Dec. 21, 2013.

After high school, he received a baseball scholarship offer from Texas A&M but chose to accept a basketball scholarship at West Texas State College. He left after the first semester because his grandfather said he needed him back at the ranch. He developed outstanding riding and roping skills and was a good judge of cattle and horses. According to many old cowboys, Johnny was as good a bronc rider as they ever saw. 

Friends and family agreed that he had a personality that drew people to him. He was friendly, welcoming and witty and treated everyone with love and respect.

Johnny had wide-ranging athletic ability. In addition to basketball, baseball and track, he was the McLean quarterback in football and impressed fans with his speed. In later years, he out-ran a young cowboy in a rodeo match race.

His basketball free throw accuracy was exceptional. On a cruise ship at age 56, he won the free throw contest and received an autographed basketball from NBA great John Havlicek.

In his late 70s, he won a free throw contest in cowboy boots at the Miami gym, making nine out of 10 shots.

As an adult, he was an outstanding golfer and tennis player and won medals in long-distance running. He was competitive against anyone in any sport he tried, including football, basketball, baseball, softball, running, tennis, golf, croquet, ping pong, snooker and roller hockey. He started running and tennis clubs at McLean and played for many years in Pampa’s Tri-State Seniors golf tournament. He served as president of the Tri-State Seniors Golf Association and was given the Colonel Bogey Award.

He taught his children sports skills and had a concrete slab built at the ranch for tennis and basketball. He also coached and mentored local young people in several sports, including Little League, girls softball, tennis and golf.

Along with Joyce, Johnny was one of the biggest McLean Tiger fans, following boys and girls teams and athletes through the years even after their five children had completed their Tiger and Tigerette days. He and Joyce drove many miles to watch their children and grandchildren in multiple sports. They also traveled to their daughter’s college basketball games from Los Angeles to Madison Square Garden and followed Nancy Lopez on the professional golf tour. 

Johnny and Joyce’s home was known as a gathering place for friends and family to talk on the kitchen table benches and as a place for fun. He and Joyce had many friends with whom they played bridge, and they spent many leisure hours playing cards and games with their family.

Johnny could play the piano by ear along with the banjo, mandolin and guitar.

He served in several civic organizations, including as president of the McLean school board, president and a regional officer of the Lions Club, president of the Tri-State Senior Golf Association, a member of the Masonic Lodge for 70 years, where he was district deputy grand master, president of the McLean 66 Rodeo Association, an officer of the McLean Roping Club and on the Gray County Hospital District board.

He served on all the committees of McLean Methodist Church. He sang bass in the choir and was a member of the Methodist Men’s Quartet which also included his brother, Sammy.

Johnny and Joyce were leaders of the Methodist Youth Fellowship, and Johnny taught junior high Sunday school and later an adult Sunday school class for many years. His greatest achievement may have been raising five children who all follow God.

Johnny was preceded in death by his parents, John C. Haynes and Minnie Morse Haynes; his wife, Glenda Joyce Haynes; his brother, Sam A. Haynes; and his daughter-in-law, Ginger Haynes.

Survivors include four sons: Mike Haynes and his wife, Kathy, of Amarillo ; David Haynes of McLean; Morse Haynes and his wife, Melinda, of Midland; and Sam Haynes and his wife, Jonnie, of McLean; a daughter, Sheri Lee Haynes of McLean; and grandchildren John Ruel Haynes, and his wife, Jordan, of Celina; Sheri Ann Copenhaver and her husband, Tyler, of McLean; Ashton Jones and her husband, Luke, of Andrews; Heath Haynes and his wife, Ericka, of Denver City; Madison Suttle and her husband, Kaden, of Lubbock; Maria Howard and her husband, Daniel, of Pampa; and Sara Haynes of McLean; great-grandchildren Jenesis, Jovi and Jillian Haynes of Celina; Dallas and Dexter Copenhaver of McLean; McCrae and McCalee Howard of Pampa; Avery and Jackson Jones of Andrews; Saylor Suttle of Lubbock; and special friend, Linda Haynes of McLean.

The family suggests memorials to McLean Methodist Church, 219 Gray St., McLean, Texas 79057.