James Esmon

Whitfield Ii

James Esmon Whitfield II

November 30th, 1944-February 6th, 2025

James Esmon Whitfield II died peacefully in his sleep on February 6th, 2025. Jim was born in Wichita, Kansas on November 30th, 1944, while his father served overseas in WWII. He was a year-old before his daddy ever saw him. His parents moved back to Texas when Jim was a young boy. His father bought a dairy farm in Sweetwater, Texas where Jim and his sisters Jan and Jo were raised. Their mother worked as a nurse.

He loved people and loved to tell stories. He found his element with outdoor work, hunting, fishing and was a natural entrepreneur. As a young teenager, he negotiated with his father to get paid for plowing the fields. Every morning before school, he milked cows. He was enormously proud of contributing to the family farm. In 1963, Jim graduated from Newman High School, which was later renamed to Sweetwater High School. At the age of eighteen, Jim volunteered for the US Army instead of waiting to be drafted. He enlisted as a clerk and was transported to Basic Training, then shipped to Vietnam. Jim's service in Vietnam consisted of an office capacity but endured multiple combat campaigns. He was grateful that he never saw the whites of the enemy's eyes while firing his rifle into the jungle. He was awarded a Purple Heart after enduring a significant injury to his leg when an enemy hand grenade blew a tree trunk into his fox hole. Jim was also awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with three bronze stars for bravery, Presidential Unit Citation and Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm Unit Citation Badge. In his free time, Jim coached little league baseball to the community, including his son Vance and nephews David and Daniel. He was extremely proud of the baseball teams he coached and often throughout his life told how he he'd take them for ice cream after a great game. Jim was an active member of the Jaycees, guided many rattlesnake roundups and was a confident snake handler. National Geographic filmed a rattlesnake roundup once with Jim shown on camera coming out of a cave.

Jim married his beloved bride of 42 years, Barbara Ann Whitfield on 11-20-1982. Their love story had wings. Jim often told of how they met at the Kiva Inn bar/restaurant in Abilene, Texas. Barbara was there at a conference with three colleagues. Jim saw her from across the room, got up courage and asked her to dance. They danced that night and started dating long-distance and were married shortly thereafter. After Jim and Barbara were married, they lived in Dickinson, then built their forever home in Streetman by Richland Chambers Lake.

In Streetman, Jim and Barbara often fished and boated. They hosted annual shrimp boils for decades for their Fishing Club. They also hosted Super Bowl parties and Fish Frys. In 2003, Jim found a piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia on his property. He placed a small United States flag on his property at the very spot where he found it and turned the pieces over to authorities. When the flag began to fade, he would replace it with a new one and tell the story of what it meant.

Jim is preceded in death by his parents, James Esmon Whitfield I and Johnnie Bernice Perryman Whitfield, and his eldest son Craig Whitfield.

Jim is survived by wife, Barbara Ann Whitfield, sons Mark Whitfield, Keith Sandlin and James Vance Whitfield, and his daughter Dawn Sandlin, and grandson Christofer Sandlin. Jim's two sisters continue to live in Sweetwater (Jan Whitfield Kennedy and Jo Whitfield), his nephews David Kennedy and Daniel Kennedy and multiple cousins whom he loved dearly.

Jim accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior in August 2022. He was baptized at First Baptist Church Bryan on January 8th, 2025.

The viewing was held at McCoy's Funeral Home on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Funeral/Memorial Service will be held in Bryan-College Station where Jim lived at First Baptist Church Bryan on Wednesday, February 19th, 2025. Funeral services will at Noon on Saturday, February 15th, 2025 at McCoy Chapel of Memories. Interment will follow at Whitfield Family Cemetery where Jim will be buried next to his parents. In lieu of flowers, Jim wanted any donations made to "First Baptist Church – Bryan, Texas to the Eunice Class," Barbara Whitfield's Sunday School class since August 2023.