Mr. Donald Leslie (Don) Stuart, age 82, of Katy, Texas passed away peacefully on Thursday, December 22, 2011 with the hearts of his wife, sons and friends by his side. He was born on January 14, 1929 at his family’s farm in Lake City, FL. He attended Columbia High School and enlisted in the United States Army in 1948. While on leave, he married the love of his life - “Sweet Baby” - Bobbie Jean Walker, on January 22, 1949. He was preceded in death by his parents Robert Benjamin (Bob) Stuart and Abbie (Tompkins) Stuart and his oldest brother Coy R. Stuart.
After discharge from the Army, he worked for Brown & Root, Inc. construction company beginning as an electrician and retiring after 27 years as a project manager in the Power Generation Division. He owned and operated Stuart’s Home Construction in San Marcos, Texas for several years. Followed by employment with Motorola in Phoenix, AZ, for 10 years. Later, he retired from Eastern Ship Building Company of Panama City, FL, in 2009 on his 80th birthday.
He was a loving husband, devoted father and abundant provider. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Bobbie J. Stuart, residing in Katy, Texas; two sons -- Donald Lewis Stuart and his wife, Vicky, of Bay City, Texas and Robert Ira Stuart and his wife Aletra of Katy, Texas; three granddaughters -- Tamara Rice, Christina Carber and Merideth Stuart; two brothers -- George W. Stuart and Clifton Mirl Stuart; sister-in-law, Ursula Stuart; along with numerous nieces, nephews and other loving family members and friends of Lake City, FL.
A memorial service will be held at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home, 13001 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas 77079, on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. An additional memorial service will be held in Lake City, FL, on January 14, 2012.
Donald Leslie “Don” Stuart – A Remembrance – Robb Stuart – December 28, 2011
Dad, Don Stuart, began of humble beginnings eighty-two and three-quarters years ago on our families’ farm in Lake City, Florida. Dad had three older brothers, Uncle Coy, Uncle George and Uncle Mirl and he greatly loved them all and told great stories about each and every one. While his family was not monetarily wealthy, they were rich in the love of one another, they grew what they ate in abundance with some cash crops, primarily tobacco and cotton, and also garnered money from going into town on Saturday and selling fish from one of the three or so lakes on the farm. Dad’s extended family living in the city of Tampa, Florida, would come to the farm for visits during the summer to can vegetables and smoke meat for the winter. During these family “stays” there may be as many as twenty or so uncles , aunts and cousins visiting the farm. Dad often spoke of these times with fondness, he really enjoyed being with and helping all of his relatives. Dad was raised in the Baptist church and often spoke of the special Sunday’s when the folks of the Church would literally have a “picnic on the ground” after Sunday’s sermon, he really enjoyed the fried chicken and desserts. When Dad was five, he began to pick cotton on the farm, his sack was bigger than he. By eight his father had built a seat on the plow and Dad would ride with Granpop while plowing the fields. Pop had a special relationship with his father, and his mother too. When Dad was thirty-five or so he took a leave of absence from Brown & Root and we lived in Lake City for the summer (Dad worked for the union in White Springs) and during this time Dad built a pump house for GranPop, I never saw a man so proud and beaming as when Dad was working with GranPop on the farm. Dad also mentioned that his mother, Abbie or Grandmom, would often times bring lunch to the fields for all of the boys and Granpop.
Dad believed in the good in all people and he enjoyed helping others - - I think this trait was gained from his early life on the farm. Often times Dad told us that Granpop and Grandmom would take-in people who needed a helping hand and let them work on the farm until they got on their feet. Dad carried this forward and often gave men a “helping hand” in his endeavors in the construction industry. Dad left Lake City when he was seventeen or so, to go into the Army and serve in Tokoyo at Saygomo Prison as an MP. He did not speak of his military service at great length other than saying he did guard some of the Japanese prisoners and on occasion some of the young Japanese boys would march along side the MP’s outside of the perimeter fence, playing “solider”. Prior to leaving for Tokoyo, in 1949 Dad married my mother, Bobbie Jean Walker and they remained together for 62 years. My Mother had never lived by herself until November 14, 2011, the day Pop left the Carriage Inn.
If you saw a definition in Webster’s dictionary of a “worker bee”, that was my Dad. He loved to work and he always excelled in any job put in front of him. He did not believe in just being a “get by”. He put 110% in any job ever given to him and he would go the extra mile in ensuring the job was done right the first time and built to last. At times in Houston we would occasionally drive by the chemical plants on the ship channel at night and the lights in the plants look somewhat like stars in the sky. When Merideth was young I would tell her that Poppy put in all of these lights – she still comments on Poppy’s “ship channel stars” to this day. Pop began working for Brown & Root Construction around 1950 as an electrician and retired from them in 1979 as a Project Manager in the Power Generation Division. He rose from the ranks in the electrical trade first as an electrician then to a foreman, general foreman, electrical superintendent, assistant project manager and ultimately project manager. Pop had a total of 27 years with Brown & Root when he retired. He then started his own custom residential home construction company in San Marcos, Texas. We built several homes in the hill country which continue to be occupied to this day. He had built my maternal Grandmother, Mary C. Walker, a home in Panama City, Florida, in 1976, and he built me a home in Cortez, Colorado in 1982, again, to our knowledge these homes continue to be occupied to this day. After building my place in Cortez, he left for Phoenix, Arizona, to assist Donny in building a residence, however, prior to initiating construction activities, he met a gentlemen working with Motorola who needed a good “maintenance” electrician. Dad came out of retirement, again, and worked for Motorola for over ten years, received numerous employee achievement awards, and carries a pension and hospitalization insurance through them to this day. Can’t was not in my Dad’s vocabulary, a favorite saying, “ . . . Can’t never did anything.” I can honestly say that my Dad never said, “I can’t” to me – anytime I asked for his help or wisdom he was always there for me. Dad was very mechanically oriented, to say the least. In 1980 or so during Christmas season it happened that he and I were traveling by car between San Antonio and San Marcos, Texas (a rather desolate stretch of road). Well, we had car trouble and I was personally unable to diagnose the exact problem – my solution, walk a couple of miles and call the tow truck. Well, Pop figured out the problem (a bad thermostat with heater hose issues). My solution, still to call in a tow truck, we had no parts. Dad would have none of it, he configured a “fix” with a piece of wood obtained from a nearby ditch and we limped into San Marcos without a heater – he always was a real can do kind of a guy. Dad’s hobbies included hunting, fishing, bowling and cooking – he was truly a great cook, he could bar-b-que with the best of them.
In 1995 Poppy and Granmoma left Phoenix to care for my Grandmother in Panama City, Florida -- she had developed Alzheimer’s. While performing some routine maintenance work on our families’ home Dad was minding his own business, at least that’s what he told me, and he happened to bump into a gentleman with Eastern Ship Building at an electrical supply store. Imagine, Eastern was in need of a couple of good maintenance electricians. Pop ended up retiring from Eastern Shipbuilding on his 80th birthday in 2009. I had asked him several years earlier to leave Panama City and come to Katy, he said, “. . . son, working is what keeps me young.” Shortly after Pop’s 80th birthday he and Granmoma did come and join us in Katy and we’ve had a couple of wonderful years – again, all of us benefiting from and enjoying being with Poppy, Granmoma and Robyn.
Don Stuart was old school and a man’s man, he did it his way – exactly his way -- from the age of seventeen until he passed on December 22, 2011. For the last six or seven years while he was working at Eastern Shipbuilding in Panama City, he left my Mother a love letter every morning. He was a devoted husband, father and abundant provider. He was and is truly my north star.
While many of his material and tangible accomplishments are here and remain to this day, several of his less tangible achievements, his good and beneficial guidance and influence on the hearts and minds of his family and friends, his strong work ethic and moral character, really his greatest works, also remain to this day in the spirit and hearts of each of us that has been lucky enough to be touched by Don Stuart. Dad’s influence on this earth will continue to be felt in our hearts and the heart’s of our children and we will all truly continue, as it says in the Good Book, to benefit from the labor of his hands.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18