John Wasey Hyde

Our beloved husband, father, brother, and friend died the morning of November 21, 2023 after 13 years with Parkinson’s Disease. He grew up in Brockton and Hingham Massachusetts, suburbs of Boston, and graduated from Colby College in Maine in 1968. His lifelong love of New England took him back to visit family and spend time on the beach in Maine for as long as he could travel. He was drafted into the US Army after graduation and served two years in the States during the Vietnam War. His last year in the service he was stationed at Ft. Hood in Texas. In 1970, while he was still in uniform, a mutual friend brought John to Austin where he met Rosalie Ward, the woman he would love for 51 years. During their courtship, John and Rosalie marched against the war together in Austin and were married on October 14, 1972, in upstate New York. They lived in Scituate, MA for two years, where John worked with severely developmentally delayed adolescents with the South Shore Mental Health Center in Quincey, MA before returning to Texas to obtain his Master’s Degree in Special Education from the University of Houston, after which he began working with autistic young adults.

In those early years he and Rosalie lived in The Houston Heights, where they grew their family, began to build their circle of friends, and renovated an old Heights cottage where they lived for 12 years before moving to Oak Forest in Houston. John treasured his daughters Meagan and Anna: When their first daughter Meg came along, he felt the need to change his work to provide for them. He spent the rest of his career as a structural steel draftsman, drawing blueprints and plans by hand, before the widespread use of CAD. He was a pioneer of “working from home”, which he did to ensure he was always home with the girls, was available to drive them home from school, help with homework and take them to doctor’s appointments, while Rosalie worked outside the home.

John’s real passions were for family, friends, art, music, and spiritual growth. He was a painter in oil and acrylics, mostly landscape painting. John painted many of the places where he and his family and friends traveled. He was a dancer, and for some time went regularly to “Ecstatic Dancing” and danced at any opportunity, “like there is nobody watching”.

John was a Warrior since 1995, a personal growth group with the Mankind Project, where he found a much-needed safe space to be vulnerable, and get comfort and affirmation from other men.

John was a seeker and had an ecumenical pursuit of his spiritual life. He led his family to a universal belief in the mystery of creation, exploring the sense of awe and wonder of what the Divine might mean through Christian and Buddhist traditions. Though he was raised as a Christian Scientist, he and Rosalie later chose to join the community at St. Stephen’s Episcopal church, where Helen Havens first modeled a role for women priests in the church. Later John and Rosalie joined the Newman Center Catholic Community at U of H., and later still, the Rice University Newman Center. During all those years he led Rosalie to Buddhist insight meditations, Buddhist and Catholic retreats, and even spent two weekends with Ram Dass, a peak experience for him.

John was a friend who loved having his friends in his home, just killing time and sharing life.

He was a devoted father and husband who always, without question put his family first. He was loyal to his core. John is survived by his wife, Rosalie; daughter, Meagan De Clerck, and her husband Damien De Clerck and their 4 children – Dante, Remy, Niko and Chiara; daughter Anna Hyde Westlake, and her husband Brandon Westlake and their baby boy to be born in February of 2024; his brother Thomas Hyde and his wife Bonnie in Brockton, MA, and their children Jonathan and Jenny; and his New England family of cousins – the Hyde, Sands, and Hamp families; Rosalie’s sister Monica Ward and her brother John Ward and their families; as well as a great circle of friends so beloved he called them family.

Even through the darkest times of his long illness, as he lost his ability to be physically independent, John always maintained his brilliant wit and humor. He was a model for others on how to live, how to be ill, and how to die with grace. He loved family, friends, fun, food, and laughter to the end. John often reminded us of what Ram Dass said: “We are all just walking each other home.”

Join us in Celebrating John's Life: Saturday, December 2 11:45 to 3 pm. Covenant Baptist Church 4949 Caroline St. Houston, Texas. There will be good food for lunch , A concert with a wonderful Musician , Eulogies and Memories of John. Parking is limited and in the neighborhood so please arrive on time or take the train down to the venu.

Please click link to RSVP:

https://www.evite.com/event/003FG5P2FBTUYABZUEPORV5TBB7APA/

Zoom for all those who might join remotely:

Rosalie Hyde is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: John Hyde Celebration of Life

Time: Dec 2, 2023 11:45 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83249467501?pwd=RWc5N0JoRXJpZHk1T3VTYTlneGpiZz09

Meeting ID: 832 4946 7501

Passcode: 264903

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.heightsfuneralhome.com for the Hyde family.