John Rodolph Ligon Jr.

January 21, 1923 – October 16, 2020

John was born in Houston, Texas in 1923 and lived there all but two years of the next seventy years. He, his parents and his sole sibling, Manning, lived near the edge of current downtown Houston which had a population of 140,000. He still fondly recalled childhood stories and long lost friends’ names in his 90’s including simple fun like rubber gun battles, playing baseball with a single bat and ball that they re-sewed when it fell part, crawfishing in the ditches, playing tennis in the street and going to his Uncle Jim’s country home adjacent to the west side of now Memorial Park. He claimed he drove by himself to Galveston with permission when he was 14, but best we know he never otherwise ventured more than 300 miles from Houston until World War II. While he was busy growing up, his parents, grandparents and several uncles foreshadowed his future by being busy working in the burgeoning oil & gas business dating back to the city, state and world changing discovery of Spindletop near Beaumont. John graduated from San Jacinto High School in 1940. He tried to enlist for military service multiple times beginning in 1941 but was declined each time due to very poor eyesight. He graduated from Rice University in 1944, and finally, he was accepted by the US Army on June 6, 1944- yes, that was “D” Day. He served mostly stateside as a 2nd Lieutenant infantry troop trainer, but then at the end of the war he saw much of the world until his service ended in 1946.

John came back to Houston and after several short- term jobs he started an ~ 40-year career with Gulf Oil where his father and uncles had worked dating back to the predecessors of Gulf. More important than his career, Mary Ann Farris had recently moved to Houston in 1951 after graduating from LSU. She interviewed for a job at Gulf Oil and though John was head of the hiring department, she did not get a job offer. However, a short while later they met again at Saint Paul’s Methodist Church at the Young Singles Coffee Club. They saw each other every day for the next six weeks, then while sitting in John’s Desoto talking about Mary Ann’s summer plans, John changed Mary Ann’s plans with his marriage proposal. They were married 4 months later on August 11, 1951. They settled in Houston and bought a home under the G.I. Bill and soon were filling their small home. Evlyn, was born in 1954, soon followed by the birth of John in 1957 and Laurence in 1958. They then moved to a bigger home on the west side of ever-expanding Houston where they raised their family with great commitment, effort, patience and love. John and Mary Ann were blessed with wonderful life-long friends from their new neighborhood and from their Sunday school class at St. Paul’s Methodist. John did a good job balancing his career with family life. He was always involved in his children’s lives and set high standards of humility, encouragement, very hard work ethic and above all, faith in Christ.

During the early childhood rearing days John and Mary Ann managed to acquire a small farm near Schulenburg, Texas. It was no more than a run-down early 1900’s farmhouse, a few dilapidated out-buildings with a hard dirt-packed yard full of farm animals and thorn bushes, but John and Mary Ann worked diligently over the decades to improve and greatly beautify their farm. Within a year from the children’s graduation from college, John retired from Gulf in 1982, and he and Mary Ann spent more and more time at the farm during the cool months while escaping Houston to stay in Colorado for the summer. In 1994 they moved full time to the farm and thrived there building many new great friendships until Mary Ann’s passing in 2015.

It is impossible to summarize John’s life with these few words, but important to say who and what mattered to him most. To begin, it helps to state who he was not. He was not much concerned, much less consumed by wealth, power or pride. He loved the outdoors whether working at the farm or savoring God’s creation of the mountains. He loved, encouraged and served his family, friends and those God placed along his path. He was joyful, humble, caring and kind. Above all, John loved life, people and his savior Jesus. John, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend, you will be greatly missed and cherished.

John was preceded in death by his parents, John Rodolph Ligon, Sr and Mattie Marie Ligon, wife Mary Ann Ligon, and brother Richard Manning Ligon. He is survived by his children Evlyn Lindsey and husband David of Muldoon, Texas; John Farris Ligon and wife Beth of Bellaire, Texas; Laurence Ashley Ligon and wife Julie of Austin, Texas, seven grandchildren Dixon Pace, Robyn Pace, Madeline Brown and husband James, Walker Ligon and wife Kelly, Celeste Thomas and husband Mitchell, Andrew Ligon, and Emily Ligon; two great grandchildren Raylan Pace, and Ford Thomas and sister in law Betty Jean Ligon.

A Memorial Service will be held at Forest Park Lawndale, 6900 Lawndale Street in Houston on Sunday, October 25th at 2:30 in the afternoon. Family visitation will be from 1:00-2:00. The family suggests donations to the Schulenburg Lions Club in lieu of flowers.