Joe Frank Willman

Joseph Frank Willman, beloved husband, father and grandfather died Sunday April 23, 2023 in Austin surrounded by the love of his family. Joe was born to George and Evelyn Willman in Brownsville, TX in 1931. He was the youngest of three children. He attended Brownsville High School and later University of Texas at Austin where he eventually earned his PhD in electrical engineering after serving his country in the US Air Force. He received training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, was assigned as an air traffic controller at Kelly Field and later assigned to a base in Greenland. There he served as a radio specialist and put his photography skills to use in his spare time, shooting breathtaking photos of wildflower fields backed by towering icebergs.

After returning to college, Joe married his sweetheart, Mary Margaret Tipton, another Brownsville native. They first lived in Austin while he completed his degree at UT. After graduation, Joe began employment with Convair in Fort Worth. They soon moved to San Antonio where he worked at Southwest Research Institute. They began raising three children there, finally settling in Austin when Joe received a job offer from UT Austin's Applied Research Laboratories. At ARL Joe received government clearance to develop sonar systems for the Navy. His work involved boats and rigs in local lakes as well as various oceanic destinations in submarines. Joe was a gifted scientist and held several positions during his employment before retiring in 1992 as assistant director at ARL. There Joe supported the Navy’s active sonar systems for anti-submarine warfare, including the development of detection, classification, and localization algorithms. He also developed spatial and temporal signal-processing techniques for measurement, guidance and control systems. Lastly, he was involved in the collection and analysis of oceanographic bottom characteristic data for coastal regions.

During his life Joe retained a curiosity of how things work and applied that to many intricate projects. An early memorable build for his small children was an elaborate two-story playhouse with a spinning mailbox and ship's wheel and what was a 'before it's time' selfie spot with giant painted playing cards the kids could put their faces through to become "king" and "queen." It was the site of much fun and games for his and the neighborhood kids. Once he built an entire TV from a kit, sorting and soldering pieces for months. He also loved photography, cars, genealogy, shooting pool, walks on the beach picking up shells, maintaining a beautiful yard, playing and watching basketball and weekends at the Lake LBJ house with the family. In later years reading was a favorite pastime. He maintained a years-long list of authors and book titles he had read.

Joe and Mary Margaret enjoyed 66 years of marriage. They were devoted to each other and to their children and grandchildren. Joe is survived by his wife Mary Margaret, daughters Margaret Hill and her husband John, Julie Perkins and her husband Dane and son Mark Willman. Grandchildren include Jessica Hardison, Katie Hardison, Thomas Hill, Tyler Perkins, Johanna West and Jackson Hill, as well as eight great-grandchildren. He is also survived by nieces Frances Goodwin, Beverly MacCarty, Debbie Sprouse, nephew Stan Willman and cousin Mary Faye Randolph.

Services are being planned for Thursday, May 18th at 11:00 in the morning at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Austin at 3003 Northland Drive. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, New York, NY 10163 (donations@michaeljfox.org), Covenant Presbyterian Church Unlocking Joy Campaign (covenant.org/joy), or the charity of your choice.