West Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Lubbock, Texas. Marine veteran Andrew Russell Jarrett of Plainview became the first person buried at the cemetery June 1, 2026.
Provided by the Texas General Land Office
Marine veteran Andrew Russell Jarrett was buried at West Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Lubbock on June 1, 2026.
Provided by Terrance Jarrett
Marine veteran Andrew Russell Jarrett was buried at West Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Lubbock on June 1, 2026.
Provided by Terrance Jarrett
The West Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Lubbock incorporates design elements from other state veterans cemeteries.
Provided by the Texas General Land Office
The West Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Lubbock incorporates design elements from other state veterans cemeteries.
Provided by the Texas General Land Office
Thad Bartley poses outside of Bartley Funeral Home. He worked as the funeral director for Andrew Jarretts burial on June 1, 2026.
Provided by Bartley Funeral Homes
Andrew Russell Jarrett, a Marine veteran from Plainview remembered by his family as a disciplined worker, devoted father and lifelong musician, became the first person laid to rest at the new West Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Lubbock.
Born Jan. 13, 1935, in Pickton, Texas, Jarrett served in the 8th Marine Corps District and earned the National Defense Medal, U.N. Service Medal and Korean Service Medal, according to the obituary. He died Aug. 8, 2025, in Plainview at 90.
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His burial at the cemetery carried special meaning for his family.
“He was proud to be a Marine, all his life,” his son, Terrance Jarrett, said in an interview. “He never forgot that he’s a Marine. It’s not like he was a Marine. He was still a Marine.”
Funeral director Thad Bartley oversaw the service and said his previous experience handling military funerals helped prepare him for the cemetery’s first service.
“They handled everything beautifully over there, in my opinion,” he said. “They really, really did. Gave a lot of respect to the military, which I feel is a wonderful thing.”
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The burial marked an early milestone for the state-run cemetery, which was built to serve veterans and eligible family members in West Texas.
“The Lone Star State has the largest Veteran population in the nation, and it is the Veterans Land Board’s mission to ensure every Texas Veteran is laid to rest with honor and dignity,” Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a statement. She said the Lubbock cemetery is the board’s fifth state veterans cemetery and “will serve more than 21,000 Veterans and their families across Texas’s Big Country.”
Lubbock was selected for the cemetery because of the large number of unserved veterans in the area, according to Buckingham.
The Lubbock City Council donated 100 acres for the project. In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded more than $15.9 million to establish the cemetery, and construction began in December 2023. Cemetery officials said several aspects of its design carry significance.
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“The design borrowed from the best aspects of the existing cemeteries,” Buckingham said. “The giant Texas star in the middle of the cemetery is from the cemetery in Corpus Christi, wind screen walls at the committal shelter from the cemetery in Killeen, columbarium design from the cemetery in Mission, and the parking lot from the design at Abilene. In addition, local cultural aspects were integrated from Texas Tech, including the Texas Tech brick pattern, red roofs, and use of black and red colors. Finally, the perimeter fence is a nod to the days of cowboys and ranching in Lubbock’s history.”
Jarrett’s son said his father would have been honored not only to be buried in a veterans cemetery, but to be the first person laid to rest there.
Jarrett served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1950s and was stationed mainly in Japan, his son said. He added that his father rarely spoke in depth about his military service, but the pride stayed with him.
“He was proud to be a Marine, all of his life,” he said.
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Outside the military, Jarrett built a life centered on work and family. His son described him as conscientious and disciplined, saying “his family came first.”
Terrance Jarrett said his father loved music, singing and playing guitar in churches, with a Christian singing group and at officers’ clubs in the military.
“He loved music,” Terrance Jarrett said. “He played guitar and sang everywhere.”
After his military service, Jarrett trained in underwater welding but chose a different path, his son said. He worked as a welder, mechanic and in heavy equipment for much of his life, including years in Colorado before eventually returning to Texas.
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The burial service in Lubbock left a strong impression on the family, Terrance Jarrett said. He was grateful for the family and service members that attended and the military honors his father was given saying “It was a really nice service.”
The West Texas State Veterans Cemetery includes pre-positioned crypts, columbarium niches, in-ground cremation plots, an administrative building, maintenance facilities, a memorial walk, a scattering garden and landscaped grounds, according to state information. The cemetery is also part of the National Purple Heart Trail, a symbolic network of roads, bridges, monuments and public sites honoring service members wounded or killed in combat.
Burial benefits for eligible veterans, spouses and dependent children include a gravesite or niche, opening and closing of the grave, a grave liner, a headstone or niche cover, military honors and perpetual care at no cost, according to cemetery officials.
Buckingham said more than 2,500 veterans have already pre-registered for burial there.
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For Terrance Jarrett, the cemetery’s opening gave his father a final resting place that matched the pride he carried for decades.
“He was proud of that,” he said. “And his family and God.”