Bryan County Sheriff Johnny Christian passed away unexpectedly at his home on March 28, 2025, at the age of 58, and last Friday, March 27, a day before the first anniversary of his death, he was remembered for how he lived during a ceremony at the Highland Cemetery pavilion.
A wreath was placed beside his gravestone.
Joey Tucker, who served as undersheriff under Sheriff Christian, was appointed sheriff after Christian’s passing.
“The reason why we chose today to do it instead of tomorrow, we want to remember the way he lived and so honor his life and so I figured that instead of honoring the way that he died, we’ll start honoring the way he lived,” Tucker said.
Tucker also spoke of Deputy Jarid Taylor, who died in an on-duty car accident in January 2020.
“We’re going to honor the way they lived and not remember the way they died,” Tucker said. “They sacrificed their life for us and we laid them to rest. We have the watch from here and so we’re going to honor them the way that they should be honored and realize how they lived and the life that they lived and honor them that way. I think that’s the best way to do it.”
Tucker spoke about Christian’s service. Christian served in the U.S. Marine Corps, with the Durant Police Department, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and in his final decade with OHP, he was assigned to the U.S. Marshals Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force. Christian was elected sheriff in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. He did not draw an opponent in 2024.
“He had many years of service and many other people that he trained are here today just to honor his legacy, and I’m just so glad to see everybody,” Tucker said. “I’m glad to see the amount of people that we had out here this morning. I didn’t expect this many people. I thought it was just going to be our close family. Our law enforcement family and it’s grown past that, so I’m very glad to see that and very glad that everybody still wished to honor him the way he’s supposed to be honored.”
