James A. Deal Jr., born October 16, 1939 to Louise and James A. Deal of Kerrville, Texas, passed away at The Carpenter House in Shreveport, La. on February 20, 2026.

Jimmy was an active member of St. James Episcopal Church. He lived in south Shreveport for approximately 40 years until he moved to Benton, La. Lois Maberry recruited Jimmy to drive the St. Luke's Medical Bus three to four times a month, since he was familiar with driving and maintaining his own RV. He enjoyed the driving, and chatting with the clients and his fellow volunteers. After setting up, he would help in any way he could, including registration.

Besides driving an RV, Jimmy enjoyed driving race cars. One year, in his younger days, he was the champion at both Hilltop Speedway near Haughton and the track at Coushatta, La.

We had Season Tickets to Texas Motor Speedway. At least once, we took Toby. We went to several other NASCAR tracks over the years, including Talladega.

Jimmy's travel destinations expanded, starting with the 1994 Honeymoon Trip to Hawaii. The Pacific Northwest became a destination since Kathy was born and raised in Oregon and still has family there. Travel was often on motorcycles. When Toby joined the Deal Family, the mode of transportation changed to RVs.

Both Jimmy and Kathy belonged to the Free Spirits Motorcycle Club, where they met. Jimmy was president a number of times. The club provided us with great riding and fellowship.

Jimmy is survived by his wife, Kathy Deal, his daughter Kim Morgan and her husband Sheldon, his son David Deal, Kent Lenard and his wife Donna, Sheri Kelly and her husband Les, Jack Lydick and his wife Jenny, Kara Campbell and her husband Brian, as well as 12 much loved grandchildren.