William Edward Gorton

William Edward Gorton “Bill”, 91, died peacefully with his daughter at his side on Sunday, June 6, 2021, at Houston Methodist Hospital. Bill was born September 10, 1929 in Houston, Texas to Lester Hezekiah Gorton and Frances Margaret Gorton (nee’ Watts), who predeceased him. He was also predeceased by his beloved wife of 53 years, Marcelle Ducros Gorton; a sister, Margaret Gorton Barnes; and a brother, Robert Lester Gorton. Bill is survived by his loving daughter, Ann Gorton Boyd, grandchildren Marion Catherine Boyd and Luke Jin Boyd, and son-in-law Andrew Boyd, all of Arlington, Virginia. Also surviving him is his sister, Mary Ann Gorton McBride, of Fairhope, Alabama; and two sisters-in-law, Rosalind Gorton of Overland Park, Kansas and Marie Ducros of Alpharetta, Georgia. He will also be missed by numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and neighbors.

Growing up in the Heights, Bill attended Christ the King grade school, where he broke his arm one Saturday and stoically served at Mass the next morning. After the family moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, he attended St. John’s High School (now Loyola College Prep) and Centenary College, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and earned a BS in Geology. Bill maintained a lifelong gratitude for the excellent education he received from the Jesuits at St. John’s. Bill served proudly in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific in the early 1950s, but with typical modesty and dry humor, he stressed that he did not see combat, saying “I was at the Battle of Waikiki."

Bill and Marcelle Gorton were founding members of St. Thomas More Catholic parish, where Bill served in various capacities over the past five decades, as a school parent, a member of the Parish Council and the Men’s Choir, a teacher of English as a Second Language, and most recently as treasurer of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and a volunteer at the parish food pantry. Bill loved golf and the friends with whom he played; he loved beer, the LSU Tigers, monitoring the stock market daily (which he referred to as “checking my traps”), visiting family in Louisiana and Virginia, sitting quietly watching the ocean, and most of all spending time with his beloved grandchildren.

He was Bill Gorton and nobody else: supremely comfortable with who he was, what he valued, and how he wanted to live. He lived by his Catholic faith, unwavering love and devotion to family, and belief that all should develop fully whatever intellect or talent they received from God. Bill did not waste words and he had little patience for people and things that lacked substance or authenticity. His razor-sharp view of the world, and how it actually works, informed his unerring ability to size up quickly any situation or person, as well as it informed his ascerbic wit. Bill was extremely capable in general, but there were some things of which he was never capable: Artifice. Cruelty. Shirking an obligation. Turning his back on someone in need. Compromising himself or his values for convenience or superficial gain. All of those qualities, and his quiet wisdom, will be deeply missed.

The family is forever grateful to Bill’s devoted caregivers, Lynette Hobbs and Carla Jackson, who joined the household in April 2020, just when Covid-19 was upending the world and preventing family from visiting.

Visitation and rosary will be Wednesday, June 23, 2021, from 6:00-8:00 pm at Earthman Bellaire Funeral Home, 4525 Bissonnet Street, Bellaire, Texas 77401. Funeral Mass will be Thursday June 24, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 10330 Hillcroft Street, Houston, Texas, 77096. Interment on Thursday, July 1, 2021, at 1:00 pm, St. Louis Cemetery #3, 3421 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70119. The family gratefully and respectfully requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the food pantry at St. Thomas More Church at 10330 Hillcroft Street, Houston Texas, 77096; or to the Jesuits Central and Southern Province, fund to sustain aged and infirm Jesuits, connect.jesuitscentralsouthern.org; or to the charity of your choice.