John Alexander Severin

John Alexander Severin was born in St. Louis, MO, on January 17, 1928 the third son of Robert Henry and Alberta Gwynn Severin. Family has always been important, and he and his brothers always enjoyed each other’s company. The Severins moved to San Antonio, TX, in 1933. There was already lots of family in San Antonio. He graduated from Brackenridge High School in 1945. He Joined the Navy, like his brothers, and was a radar technician in Boston during WWII. He went to the University of TX like his brothers. John got his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering, then worked in Tullahoma, TN, for Arnold Engineering and Development Center. He returned to UT and earned his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He got a job at Texas Instruments and moved to Dallas. He attended the singles class at Highland Park Presbyterian Church and met Joan Jackson in the summer of 1958. They were married at Christmas time, Dec. 20, 1958. Their first daughter, Valerie, was born on his birthday. What a present! Later, daughter Sandra then Leigh were born. So new adventures began.

John’s mother Alberta wrote her life story beginning with the sentiment of being blessed with a dozen grandchildren. Throughout his life, there were countless vacations with extended family ,whether it was a campout with everyone, visiting his parents in San Antonio, visiting brother Bob in Houston or Oak Ridge, TN, visiting brother Al in various places in TX, visiting brother-in-law Donald in Madison, WI, Pocatello, ID, or Ft .Worth, traveling the world or attending larger and larger family reunions.

John was a fighter. He mostly enjoyed good health, thus never liked taking extra medicines. However, he had cancer in 1981 and had his spleen removed and chemo. He went to work no matter what though, because it kept his mind off the cancer. What a party we had for his birthday in January the next year when he was cancer free and his hair was back curlier than ever!

He worked at TI for 35+ years, retired and went back to consult with them for several years. He has been described as an engineering guru for all the accumulated knowledge he had at work. He tried to teach his daughters baseball, but was usually the only one to hit the ball. Ping pong was a better sport. He enjoyed hiking national parks and always said “Howdy” to folks on the trails. He enjoyed bridge and played some on family reunions. At home, he and Joan did the crossword puzzles, with Joan being the spellchecker.

Preceded in death by his parents and brothers, plus their wives, John is survived by his wife Joan, his daughters Valerie and husband Guy Finley, Sandra and her husband John Hurlbert and Leigh and husband Claudio Galimberti. There are 7 grandchildren : Alex and wife Madelyn Finley, Shannon and husband Andre Mardian, Corinne Hurlbert, Meredyth Hurlbert, Natalie Hurlbert, Franklin Galimberti and Gwyneth Galimberti. Plus numerous nieces and nephews. He will be missed by all.

John lived well in his own home until the last two months of his life. Thank you to all the wonderful nurses and doctors at Presbyterian Hospital, Presbyterian Village Rehab and Faith Presbyterian Hospice, plus to the recent caregivers Lakeisha and Toni. They are heroes who gave him hope and encouragement.

Donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association www.alz.org , Wycliffe Bible Translators www.wycliffe.org, or the Jesus film project www.jesusfilm.org. There will be a visitation time at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home from 4 to 6pm on Thursday, March 10th. A celebration of life will be held at Highland Park Presbyterian Church at 2:30pm on Friday, March 11th. If you cannot attend in person, the service will be livestreamed at 2:30pm as well at www.hppres.org/severin.