John Richardson Prior

John “Jack” Richardson Prior, beloved and treasured husband, father, and friend, passed away suddenly but peacefully on July 19, 2015, after long and strenuous battles with numerous medical issues.

He was born on August 16, 1926 to James and Katherine Prior in Belfast, Ireland. His father was the Belfast Chief of Police and his mother was a home economics teacher. Jack is survived by daughters, Jennifer Prior Schledorn and husband David, and Victoria Christine Prior; his son, John William Prior; nieces, Hazel Graham of Belfast, Northern Ireland; Pam Tobin and husband Paul of Toronto, Canada; nephew, Eric Prior and wife Colette of St. John, Newfoundland; and a host of other family and friends.

A marine & mechanical engineer and naval architect by profession, Jack received his degrees from Belfast Technical College and later, Stow College in Glasgow, Scotland. Jack served in the British Royal Navy on destroyer escort ships during World War II in the North Atlantic. After World War II, in 1947, he joined the British Merchant Navy. He then served with the Cunard Line on their passenger ships as the primary steam and diesel commander. He often told his children that he had sailed around the world the equivalent of three times.

After leaving the Cunard line in 1956, he served as a power plant insurance inspector for a major insurance company. While on vacation to visit a family friend in New York state, he met and eventually married Renate Besgen of Eschweiler, Germany. Their fifty year marriage was lived in Illinois, Missouri, Virginia, Idaho, Louisiana, Washington state, California, Indonesia, and finally Texas.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Jack worked in the Newport News, Virginia shipyard and Idaho Falls, Idaho as a naval architect for the USA’s new “nuclear” navy, designing engine rooms and other critical engineering-related areas of such ships as the Nimitz. During that time, he often encountered Admiral Hyman Rickover, "The Father of the Nuclear Navy". He then went on to work for Combustion Engineering and then later Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), where he designed the massive “crawlers” that transported entire buildings across the Alaskan arctic to accompany the construction of the Alaska Pipeline (“Beat the Ice in ‘76”); designed double-hulled spill-resistant oil tankers in Long Beach, California and Nagasaki, Japan, and managed offshore oil operations in Jakarta, Indonesia. He retired from ARCO in 1986.

In his spare time, Jack loved woodworking, carpentry, welding, and drawing. He was also a skilled electrician and plumber. He especially loved recounting his numerous life stories and adventures, which more often than not included a generous amount of “blarney”, tall tales, and pranks.

For many years, he was active with the Shriners International organization, lastly involved with the Hella Shrine Temple in Garland, Texas.

In the last years of his life, despite the numerous medical issues, his children never once heard him complain, a true study in courage, bravery and strength of character.

Jack is preceded by his wife of 50 years, Renate Besgen Prior; brother, Geoffrey Prior; and sister, Irene Hutchinson. Visitation for Jack will be on Friday July 24, 2015 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Ted Dickey West Funeral Home and service on Saturday July 25, 2015 at 8:30 AM in the Chapel at Ted Dickey West Funeral Home with interment to follow in Red Oak, Texas. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jack’s honor may be made to the Neuro Fitness Foundation 1500 West Park, Euless, TX 76040 or http://www.neurofitnessfoundation.org/donate/