Grady Joseph (Joe) Hemphill

He was preceded in death by his parents John Marshall Johnson and Rachel Lee Tyler Johnson, his adopted parents Tom and Annabelle Hemphill, and after that loss Marcia and Hugh Porter, his beautiful wife of 30 years Madonna Lea Hemphill, and his brother David Porter.

Joe pushed ahead through the challenges and lessons learned in his youth to put himself through school at Texas State University aka Mean Green to gain his Bachelor’s in Business Management with a minor in Accounting which lead him to a lifelong career at Ingersoll Cutting Tools which transferred him to Marshall, Texas where he met his beautiful wife. He continued to strive forward, and accomplished many goals up until his retirement in November 2021.

Through all the changes and challenges he faced throughout youth, he learned to become the amazing, kind, and loving Husband, Father, and Grandfather that we all cherished very much. He was always calm, cool, collected, with guidance, and open arms.

He lived his life each day with one MAIN Goal…. To make people laugh!!! 😊 With a kind, caring, direct approach most that knew him saw that he was a special soul.

Deemed by many as “Joe Cool” for always bringing any situation to laughter and light, and having a wicked cool sense of engineering, unthinkable ways to obtain more horsepower out of vehicles via custom cad drawings, and finding machine shops to make his drawings reality. He had a love for cars and making the unthinkable possible, which in turn earned him much attention and many friendships throughout the years.

He is survived by Yvonne (daughter) and Keith Mason Jr.; Grandkids: Lauren and Taylor Clunn, Brieanna Mason, Alexander Mason; Siblings: Mary Ann (sister) and Rick Nowlin; Tyler (brother) and Kim Vance; Les (brother) and Brenda Porter; Paul (brother) Porter and Johnny, and many cherished nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Until we meet again may we all remember the laughs in times of sadness, and take a page out of Joe’s book to spread laughter.

A visitation for Grady will be held Saturday, May 4, 2024 from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM at Forest Park The Woodlands Funeral Home & Cemetery, 18000 Interstate 45 S, The Woodlands, TX 77384. A funeral service will immediately follow from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Committal will be held at Forest Park The Woodlands Cemetery on Friday, May 10, 2024 at 3:00pm.