Harold Lee Wise

Harold Lee Wise passed away into the arms of Jesus on August 30, 2016, at the age of 89. He was born December 20, 1926, in Port Lavaca, Texas, to Collas and Willie Ann Collins Wise. He spent his early years in Port Lavaca and Yoakum, Texas, graduating from Yoakum High School in 1944. He was preceded in death by his wife Billie Jo McCollum Wise, his parents Collas and Willie Ann Wise, brother Jack Eason Wise, and daughter-in-law Jennifer Thompson Wise. Harold is survived by his wife Darlene Walters Wise; his son Jim Wise and wife Sherry Haire Wise, grandsons Curtis Wise and James Wise of Canton, Texas; step-grandsons James Haire of Houston and Christopher Haire of Tyler, Texas; step-son Bradford J. Bowman and wife Mirna, granddaughters Elise Bowman and Sierra Speegle of Austin, Texas; and brother Billy Andrew Wise of Jasper, Texas.

Harold was a member of the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946, served in World War II, and was a Sergeant at the time of his discharge. He graduated from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, in June of 1949 with a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Biology. In 1950-52 Harold taught Chemistry at Shiner High School. In 1953 Harold moved to Pattison, Texas, and served as High School Principal for two years. Next he taught high school chemistry and biology at Katy High School, ending his second year there with the “Teacher of the Year” award.

Harold began a career with Shell Oil Company’s Exploration and Production Research Laboratory in Bellaire, Texas, in 1956. In his 29 years of employment with Shell Oil, Harold worked in four areas of research: Petroleum Chemistry, Geochemistry, Geology, and Geophysics as applied in laboratory and in field studies, including bore hole well logging, and Magnetotellurics Data Acquisition. Harold worked as Project Leader with Shell teams in field testing new equipment, marine hydrocarbon surveying off-shore around the United States and other sites around the world, as well as land data acquisition surveys with Magnetotellurics in the Western U.S, Alaska and Canada.

Harold retired from Shell in 1985 to join his son, Jim Wise in a family business: The Dairy Palace Restaurant of Canton, Texas. Thirty-two years later, the restaurant is still going strong and Harold’s special kind of leadership, wisdom, generosity, and kindness played a big part in the success of the business. He was a man of good character who was greatly loved and who will be sorely missed.