Antonio Salazar

Antonio Salazar entered his eternal rest on February 3rd, 2016, in Austin, TX. He was blessed to have all his children near at his final passing. His five children are Teresa Keyes of Spokane, WA, Carmen McDaniel of Lexington, TN, David Salazar of Orlando, FL, Cecilia Counter of Buda, TX, and Angela Parrilla of San Antonio, TX.

Antonio was born March 16, 1926, in Kansas City, KS, to Juan and Luisa Salazar. He was the third of eighteen children. He is survived by twelve siblings. They are Jose Salazar of Florissant, MO, Celia Katosh of Kansas City, MO, Linda Vogler of Kansas City, KS, Delia Rusan of Lee Summit, MO, Josie Salazar of Raytown, MO, John Salazar of Davenport, FL, Mary Gutierrez of Raytown, MO, Peter Salazar of Salem, MO, Betty Nielsen of Lenexa, KS, Jessie Salazar of Las Vegas, NV, Michael Salazar of Wildersville, TN, and Paul Salazar of Spring Hill, TN.

By age seven, his mom had he and his brothers in catechism. From an early age, his mother stressed the importance of good companionship. As Dad recalled to us often, she would say "Dime con quien andas, y te dire quien eres" ('Tell me who you are with and I'll tell you what you are').

He completed ninth grade before leaving school to begin working on the MKT ("Katy") railroad with his father.

At age sixteen, he was promoted to Inspector of Fragile Loads. From there he was moved to the roundhouse and advanced to Machinist Helper. This was the beginning of his interest in steam boilers and engines.

In 1943, he left the railroad to join the US Merchant Marines. He served aboard the S.S. Thomas J. Lyons, S.S. Isaac Shelby, S.S. Ida Strauss, and S.S. James E. Howard, crossing the Atlantic several times during WWII.

He enlisted in the US Navy in 1945 where he served in the submarine service. His tours of dutytook him to Guam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Tsingtao, Okinawa and Japan.

After the war, he returned to Kansas City to complete his GED. Following which he enrolled for a year and a half at Ottawa University.

In 1949, he left college for the opportunity to go overseas and work for Gulf Oil in Venezuela.

While in Venezuela, he met and married Minerva in 1953. Together they had five children: four daughters and one son. While overseas he continued his education with the University of Kansas (Engines & Boilers), the American School-Chicago (Electrical Engineering), and the RCA Institute NY (Electronics) advancing in his career to become Director of Utilities.

In 1970, Gulf Oil asked him to take the family and move to Okinawa, Japan, where as Superintendent of Utilities he was to head up the training of staff and start-up of utilities for a brand new refinery that was to be built there.

In 1974, Gulf Oil asked him to return to the states to work at the company research center in Harmarville, PA, just outside of Pittsburgh. This was quite an honor for a working engineer without a university degree.

He remained with Gulf Oil until 1976, when at age 50 he took advantage of an opportunity for early retirement.

After retiring from Gulf Oil, he returned to Venezuela at the invitation of Meneven, the nationalized successor to the Gulf Oil company and spent another nine years there until his 2nd retirement in 1984.

After leaving Venezuela, they settled in Kingwood, TX where he started a 2nd career reading the mail. At the time, Cecilia and her husband, Paul Counter, were living and working in Spring, TX, just a few minutes from Kingwood. So, in addition to reading the mail, he was pleased to be able to enjoy having his grandchildren from his daughter Cecilia close by. Along with occasional visits to and from Carmen and her children, as well as David and his sons, his life was full of the joy that only grandchildren can generate.

Eventually, Cecilia and Paul moved to Abilene, Texas, which slowed his visits with the grandchildren, but with more grandchildren from Angela and Frank in San Antonio, he remained busy.

Another of his favorite pastimes was keeping in touch and occasionally visiting with his numerous friends and prior co-workers.

In 2012, he and Minerva sold their home in Kingwood, TX, and moved to Buda, TX, outside of Austin, to live with his daughter Cecilia and her family. Minerva passed in June of 2015. After a long life well lived, he passed in February 2016, a month short of his 90th birthday.

Arrangements under the direction of Sunset North Funeral Home, San Antonio, TX