Joel Sellers
Joel Allen Sellers passed away with family by his side on Oct. 7, 2019.
He gave cancer a good fight, but in his own words, he “had to lose this battle to win the War.”
Services were held Oct. 12 at St. John Lutheran Church, and burial was in Lanham Cemetery.
Joel was born Oct. 22, 1942, in Hamilton County to Wert Allen Sellers and Ruby Blum Sellers. He grew up in the Lanham Community with his parents and four siblings.
He graduated school at Jonesboro ISD. He played basketball there under coach PT Lemons, whom he admired greatly. His nickname on the court was “hoss.”
He met Shirley Annette Braun in 1961 and they were married three years later on Feb. 8, 1964. They worked side by side for 55 years. They started their life out together in a rent house in Hamilton but moved to the country and bought the family farm in 1967.
They were blessed with three children, Joanna Lynn, Mark Allen and Joel Wayne.
After marriage, Joel joined the trucking business with his father, and they hauled grain from all over Texas to the local grain elevators.
In the 1970’s, Joel and Shirley started their own business, Sellers Grain Co. Inc. This business originated in Lanham in a small scale house he built behind his daddy’s house. Sellers Grain provided many services to the local farmers and ranchers.
In 1977 he expanded the business to a rail site in Meridian with a partner, and Sellers & Courtney Ag Services was born. He later bought out his partner and this location became a part of Sellers Grain.
In the 1980s he once again got the opportunity to expand into Gatesville by buying out Gatesville Farm and Ranch. This business even grew more as he added the Gatesville Coop to the business a few years later. His business thrived with many good employees and the hard work of his wife and family.
Once again, an opportunity presented itself, and in 1988 he purchased the Gerald Feed Mill in Hamilton.
Throughout his 40 years of business, Joel made many friends. He often prided himself on the advice he was able to give other entrepreneurs like himself. He had many employees over the years, and so many of them looked him up later in life and told him thanks for giving them a chance.
The entire time his business was growing, he was adding to the family farm and ranch.
In 2002 Joel and Shirley retired from Sellers Grain and focused their attention on their ranch.
Joel was more than a businessman, more than a father, more than a rancher, he was often called bigger than life. Joel was instrumental in starting a Lions Club in Jonesboro to help the small community. He pushed to get the first computers in the classrooms at Jonesboro ISD. He served as a director for the National Bank of Gatesville, a director for the Hamilton Farm Bureau and was a member of the Texas Grain and Feed Association.
Joel was always a thinker. He loved history, especially Texas history. He loved to tell a story, whether it was to a friend at the barber shop, a salesman in his office, a customer in his store or a grandkid on his lap.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Dr. Rev. J.W. Sellers; and two sisters, Carrahlee Sellers and Mary Ann Sellers Burke.
Joel is survived by his wife Shirley; daughter Joanna Lynn and husband David Wasson; sons Mark Allen Sellers and wife Sabrina and Joel Wayne Sellers and wife Lisa; a sister, Freida Sellers Wolfe; eight grandchildren, Chris Wasson and wife Emily, David Allen Wasson, Cheyenne Sellers Tanner and husband Ryan, Joel Wyatt Sellers, Tyler Sellers and wife Madalynn, Jacob Dossey, Jessica Dossey Key and husband Jimmy and Trevor Sellers; five great-granddaughters, Raelynn, Holly, Ralie, Zaylie, and Hayzlie, with a sixth, Wrenley, on the way; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
