James Murry “Rusty” Faulkner

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James Murry Faulkner, Jr. passed away Saturday, January 27, 2024, at his home in Jackson, MS. Funeral services will be held Friday, February 2, 2024, at 11:00 A.M. at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford, Mississippi with Rev. Jody Burnett officiating. Visitation will be held prior to the service from 9:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. at the church. A graveside burial will follow the service at St. Peter’s Cemetery. Directly following, the family will be hosting a Celebration of Life at The Coop at The Graduate Hotel and ask that all who loved Rusty please come join.

Rusty was born on October 27, 1953, on Millington Naval Base in Memphis, Tennessee. Lovingly called Rusty, he grew up in Oxford, Mississippi, and proudly called Mississippi home for the majority of his life. Rusty graduated high school from College Hill Academy in Oxford in 1971 and loved to tell anyone who would listen about his football days, best friends, and boyish mischief from his time there. Rusty went on to Ole Miss and graduated in 1977 with a degree in Business. He proudly followed a long Faulkner family tradition and started the fourth of now five generations to join Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity.

After college, Rusty followed the oil boom and moved to Houston. He worked in Oil and Gas then in Savings and Loans for 6 years; he always had a mind for numbers. In 1984 he returned to Jackson, Mississippi, to be closer to his mother when she was sick with cancer and in 1989 Rusty moved across town just a block from his brother. Together they designed and built the house Rusty lived in for the rest of his life. While he continued to work in Savings and Loans, he developed an intense interest in computers and computer programing, and even built a company that sold software to seventeen different states’ Departments of Economic Development. He continued his career working as an accountant and auditor for many businesses over the years.

There were a number of passions that began in Rusty’s childhood that he carried throughout his lifetime. Rusty always had a love for music. By age nine he had joined the Columbia Record Club for 99 cents! He learned to play piano from Mrs. McCall and by fifteen he had his own set of keyboards and Fender amp. It wasn’t long after that he started a band with Ed Moak, Craig Downing, Bill Jacobs, Todd Wagner, and Mitch Martin. His passion for music continued through not only listening to countless hours of music, a record collection to be envied, and attending many of the most tremendous concerts throughout the southeast, but also by his almost unquenchable desire for knowledge and history of those musicians he loved and respected most. Rusty also had a lifelong interest in flying and space travel. He would tell stories about how as a young boy, his father would wake him and his brother up for every launch from Mercury capsules thru Gemini, and he kept that tradition alive eagerly watching the launches of Apollo, Space Shuttle and even most recently Space X with the same excitement and fascination he had as a child! Rusty also loved water skiing and he had a beautiful wooden 19’ Chris Craft. So many fun filled days were spent at Sardis with his many, many friends.

Rusty often talked about one of the greatest gifts his father gave him was his love for The Braves. He warmly described years of memories of the two of them watching the games together and he carried that tradition on after his father’s passing, rarely missing a game! Rusty’s mind for detail and memory like an elephant made him an incredible baseball fan, but those who knew him best knew only to ask about a player’s stats or a specific game if you were ready for a play by play as if the game was live. In October of 2021 Rusty and his brother Buddy shared the trip of a lifetime and went together to Game 4 of the World Series in Atlanta just days after Rusty’s 68th birthday. They watched The Braves beat The Astros that night at Truist Park and two games later The Braves won The World Series! Rusty could recount the details of that special night as if it was yesterday and cherished that experience to cheer on his beloved Bravos from the stands.

But more than music or baseball or anything, Rusty loved people. His most cherished memories were with his friends and family. If you knew Rusty, you knew the stories were long and the love and loyalty were deep. He held fiercely to his oldest friends and often talked about how much family meant to him. He was incredibly sentimental and even the smallest handwritten note or silliest trinket meant the world to him if tied to someone he loved.

Rusty was preceded in death by his parents James Murry Faulkner and Nancy Watson Faulkner (Jimmy and Nan), grandparents Dolly and John Faulkner, Thomas F. Watson and Margaret Wood Watson. He is survived by his brother Thomas Wesley Faulkner (Buddy) and sister Margaret Faulkner DuChaine (Meg) and niece Sarah Jane Faulkner, nephews John Faulkner, Jack Faulkner, and Will Faulkner, his great-niece Drew and great-nephew and namesake James, his sister-in-law Sally and brother-in-law John, and of course, his sweet dog Constance.

Serving as pallbearers are Rusty’s family, Bert Falkner, Ley Falkner, Ramey Falkner, Buddy Faulkner, John Faulkner, Jack Faulkner, Will Faulkner, and Pete Ramey. Serving as honorary pallbearers are his closest friends, Keith Mansel, Jim Gilmore, Bill Jacobs, Murray Avent, Bubba Bounds, Wade Sutherland, Mike Smith, and Ricky King.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any memorial contributions be made to Alaqua Animal Refuge. Everyone who knew Rusty knows how much he has loved his sweet dogs Ginger, Gizmo, and currently Constance. Constance was the light of Rusty’s life and his “pretty little gurl” for the last decade after rescuing her through Alaqua Animal Refuge in 2013. Rusty’s niece Sarah has happily welcomed Constance into her family.

Please note any gift is in memory of Rusty Faulkner.

Alaqua.org

Alaqua Animal Refuge

155 Dugas Way

Freeport, FL 32439