Francis Xavier Bostick Jr.

Francis was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on June 1, 1932. His father, Francis Bostick Sr., a paleontologist who worked in the East Texas oilfields, his mother, Nellie Van Hoose Bostick, and Francis soon moved to Houston. Francis’ sister Marion was born in Houston a few years later. He always considered himself a native Houstonian.

As a young boy growing up in Houston, he loved the outdoors and was a gifted and curious student. At Lamar High School, he was an athlete and an accomplished pianist. It was in high school where he developed a passion for electronics, building his own radio equipment. He enjoyed cruising the streets of Houston in his black Ford listening to his ham radio.

He entered Rice University in 1950. But after continuously going to schools no more than a mile from his home, he decided to transfer to the University of Texas two years later after visiting a friend in Austin. His love for electronics led him to pursue an electrical engineering degree. After graduating with a BS degree in 1955, Francis went to work at the Electrical and Engineering Research Lab in Austin. This led to him earning MS and Ph.D degrees and set the stage for over 50 years of contributions in cutting edge research and innovation in his specialty areas of radio waves and geophysics, including international recognition for his research in geomagnetics. He developed a new, patented exploration method of electromagnetic array profiling (EMAP) which produces improved images for the earth’s substructure. Francis’ professional career also included consulting for oil and gas companies along with authoring numerous technical publications.

But Francis’ most impactful contribution to the electrical engineering profession was as a teacher. Although he had never intended to teach, in 1963 the University of Texas was actively hiring new faculty in Electrical Engineering and needed help teaching courses. Francis agreed to help but then soon became a member of the faculty where he began his long career as a distinguished and beloved professor. He was a passionate and approachable teacher, and he particularly liked his advisory roles, engaging students more personally than in the classroom. His research trips with graduate students took him on adventures to the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington and across the state of Texas. He stayed in touch with former students throughout his life and taught many children of former students along the way.

Francis won many teaching awards throughout the years but was most proud of his first, the General Dynamics Award, as well as the many awards he received from the student organizations. In 1989, he received the Chancellor’s Council Outstanding Teaching Award, the highest honor available for faculty members at the University of Texas at Austin. Francis’ teaching ability could be measured by the crowds at his lectures. One of his students once said that “Dr. Bostick’s class … tends to have attendance on the order of 130 percent. When one out of four students attending a lecture is not even registered for the course, the teacher must be doing something right.”

Francis was chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the College of Engineering from 1996-2001. As Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus and Hayden Head Centennial Professor Emeritus, in 2017 he was honored at a dinner celebrating the Dr. Francis X. Bostick, Jr. Endowed Scholarship. Former students, colleagues, family and friends gathered to recognize his incredible achievements and contributions to The University of Texas. The scholarship was established to provide support of undergraduate students, with preference given to students pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Francis met the love of his life and best friend, Helen Louise Timpson, at the University of Texas, and they married in 1956. Helen and Francis enjoyed a wonderful 65 years of marriage, spending most of their free time in Texas between their home in Austin, a family house in Rockport and their ranch near Marble Falls. Francis and Helen were loving and dedicated parents and often took many friends of the family under their wings. Frequent trips to Colorado and the western US added to their adventures, and they met wonderful, life-long friends along the way.

Francis was a perfect gentleman, husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. As the patriarch, Francis was adventurous and continued to love the outdoors through fishing, hunting, boating and ranching. He chased game fish in the gulf and trophy deer in south Texas with his sons, taught his children to water ski on Lake Austin and mentored two generations of farm and ranch hands who share his love of the land and outdoors. Always curious and always the teacher, Francis passed along vast amounts of knowledge on many fascinating subjects to all of his kids and grandkids. An early homebrewer in the 1990’s, he was a connoisseur of craft beer and loved following the growth of this industry and finding new and unique beers to share with his family and friends. His thirst for knowledge and his ongoing ranch chores kept him sharp in mind and strong in body. A conversation with Francis was always a learning experience.

Francis is survived by his wife Helen, sister Marion More, son Tad Bostick and his wife Rebekah Barret Bostick, son Tim Bostick and his wife Susan Bennett Bostick, daughter Julie Bostick Smith and her husband Tim Smith, grandchildren Barret Bostick and his wife Marissa Hale Bostick, Sarah Bostick Johnson and her husband Brad Johnson, Travis Bostick, Coulter Bostick, Alex Bostick, Timothy Smith and Arkasha Stevenson, Chris Smith and his wife Jamie Irwin Smith, MacKenzie Smith and her fiancée Cal Ortlieb, great grandchildren Teddy and Daisy Bostick and Jackson Smith, nephew George More and niece Francie More Mancillas.

The family would like to thank the doctors, nurses and staff of the Heart Hospital of Austin for their extraordinary care and support. In particular we would like to recognize Dr. Tom Carlson, Dr. Kunjan Bhatt, Dr. James Marroquin and Clinical Nurse Specialist Laura Calais for their expert and passionate care, guidance and friendship.

A private family, graveside service was held at Austin Memorial Park cemetery, and the family requests that any memorial contributions in Francis’ honor be made to the charities listed below: