Home Brentwood Community Remembers Jeremy “Lumpy” Sturgill Friday Night

Community Remembers Jeremy “Lumpy” Sturgill Friday Night

by ECT

Friday night, thousands of people in the community showed up in front of Lumpy’s Diner in Antioch to remember Jeremy “Lumpy” Sturgill for a car show and candlelight vigil.

More than 5,000 people showed up to celebrate Lumpy’s life while sharing memories, smiles, hugs, and tears–he passed away Tuesday morning. They supported the family by purchasing water, soda, hats, shirts and other merchandise while viewing three rows of vehicles for the car show.

During the vigil, both Lumpy’s mom and dad spoke along with several car club members, the mayor and staff.

Dave Sturgill, Lumpys dad and also known “Digger Dave” thanked everyone in attendance saying how touched he was to see how many people his son touched.

IMG_2468“When I came around that corner and saw all these people it just touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes of how he touched you guys in the community,” said Digger. “How he gave and you gave back by just coming to his car shows and burger contest, whatever he did, you guys came. I told him, I said Lumpy I am so proud of you, there are no words I am just amazed. You are a great business man, great marketer; I just can’t believe the amount of hearts he has touched over the short few years. I know god will see me through this and we have had many talks over the years. I feel that he made his heart right with god.”

He further highlighted that through God, people will see Lumpy again.

“If you give your heart to Jesus you will see him again. That is the desire of my heart. I loved that boy so much I was so proud of him. Tonight verifies the lives he touched and the person he was. I thank you for coming and supporting. When people lose a love one, whether it be a parent or child of any age, it’s the friends, family and prayers that keep everyone going and gets through the situation. I don’t know you all but I know you through Lumpy and his legacy will continue as long as we can probably remember,” said Digger.

IMG_2465Lumpys mom, Kathy, spoke about how proud she was of her son and what he had accomplished.

She highlighted how she remember the first time he did a fundraiser for a little girl with cancer—he wanted to give her 15% of his money for that day.

“That afternoon, he told me he was overwhelmed with the community, the fire department and everyone who came. I remember as clear as I am standing here, he told me mom we did $16,812 that day. I wrote him a check for the whole amount,” she explained. “He goes what do you think about that. I said god is going to bless your business and I will never forget it.”

She continued.

“I told him if you give, god is going to bless you because you can’t out give the lord. I watched him over the years as he gave, sometimes maybe he didn’t have it to give or that much to give. But he was so excited to give, going to houses, Christmas gifts, giving to kids that didn’t have he was a giver. This is the hardest thing I have ever worked through, I feel like the inside of my guts have been ripped out of me, but I am looking around here everyone has been touched by him. All he wanted to do was make everyone proud of him, I can tell you, Dave we are proud of our son, and I am thankful for each and everyone of you who made Lumpys Diner, you cant have a diner unless you have customers that come, are proud of what they get, the service or the quality.”

Several car club members also spoke about Lumpy.

Jack, who built Lumpy’s blue race car, recollected how after Lumpy opened his diner, when he approached it for the first time he thought it was a tattoo shop.

“He said no, I got a diner and I got a hot rod I want built. At that moment, our relationship started and then he wanted his custom trophies. I had to hand it to him he always had the strangest ideas and he made it hard because he pushed your envelope when it comes to being creative,” explained Jack.

Jack explained how Lumpy went to many hot rod shops to get the truck build but noted that because he was starting a business, he didn’t have that much money to spend.

“Lumpy had this way of talking to you that when you were done, you would do anything he wanted. I took this on without negotiating a price. I didn’t know the nightmare it would be because if you know Jeremy then you know he must have changed his mind and idea of what he wanted to do not weekly, but daily,” said Jack. “I said for what you want to do and the heart that you have, when he got done talking to you and what he gives, it didn’t matter about the money. So I built it.”

He further highlighted how Lumpy would treat everyone as family.

“The guy was crazy and I was crazy about him. It didn’t matter about the money I did whatever the guy wanted me to do. He touched everybody. When he first opened up the restaurant, my son was born with a heart condition and had to have a pace maker put in. He always told my son that he was just like everyone else. He was special. All of us feel like we are a part of this that is what makes this place different, because we are a family and he makes you feel a part of that and I will never forget him for that and he will truly be missed.”

IMG_2470Rob Ellis, representing Asphalt outlaws, spoke about how Lumpy really touched his heart.

“It really touched me with all the charities he has done and how he touched everyone. It really shocked me to hear that we lost a true friend. We were supposed to go to the track today, I worked on his truck last week and now he is not here. Its shocking, we are going to miss him. We made him an honorary outlaw.”
Arami Picazo, Pastimes Car Club, explained how Lumpy was wonderful because it didn’t matter what connected the two of you, it just really mattered to him.

“Whether its sports, cars, motorcycle, art or just good food. It was a real connection. What I appreciated about him was show real he was,” said Picazo. “I will always remember Lumpy for the truly genuine person that he was. He would always give it to you straight. As we celebrate Lumpys life and great impact he has on all of us just take a moment and remember all those special moments that he made with each of us and carry those with us the rest of our lives.”

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Gena Noack, Manager at the Diner, vowed that she and the “angels” will make this work and

“Lumpy, look at this, we got you,” said Noack. “This right here, this is his diner, this is his angels. Now you are our angel. We are going to do whatever we can to make this work. We love you Lump.”

Marci Sturgill, Lumpy’s wife, thanked the community for showing support.

IMG_2499“On behalf of the diner and everybody, this whole event puts into the perspective the saying that teamwork makes the dream work and that was his biggest thing. Thank you so much for being here,” said Sturgill.

“I don’t know half of the faces out here but I can tell you we cannot go anywhere in this country without running into someone we knew in some way or another. But I just want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart and my families heart. I am going to need more help than I could ever have imagined and I cannot do it without any of you guys so thank you so just know I am very grateful.”

At the end of the evening, lanterns were lit and released into the air to celebrate Lumpy’s life.

Funeral Service Information
Wednesday, June 24th at 11am at Calvary Temple Church, 4725 Evora Road in Concord with the Burial procession will follow to Memory Gardens located at 2011 Arnold Industrial Way, in Concord.

**The family would like to respectfully ask for the public to be aware and considerate of the limited amount of space at the cemetery.

The family also invites anyone wanting to attend the visitation, to join us Tuesday evening from 6pm-8pm at Moore’s Mission Funeral Home located at 1390 Monument Blvd, in Concord.

Donations
Anyone wishing to help the family may offer donations at any Wells Fargo Bank to The Jeremy “Lumpy” Sturgill Memorial Fund

Below are a few photographs from the Celebration of Life and a couple videos.


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2 comments

Thomas Holmes Jun 20, 2015 - 6:34 pm

We’ve known him and loved him since his birth. We’ll miss him.

Aunt CarolSue and uncle Tommy

Lillianna Jul 2, 2015 - 1:12 pm

We will miss you Lumpy!

Comments are closed.