Richard Lawrence Jeffers

Richard Lawrence Jeffers passed away on Wednesday, February 11, 2015. He will be remembered as a loving husband, father and grandfather, and as a man of compassion, loyalty and integrity with a deep appreciation of life, family and friendship. He went by the nickname Dick.

Dick was born on April 17, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan. He went to the University of Michigan where he played football briefly, USC, UNAM in Mexico City and finally Ohio University where he was graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts in Romance languages. He served in the United States Army in the Panama Canal Zone from 1953 until 1955, where he met Barbara Ann Schnake whom he married in 1954.

Throughout his life he worked in advertising, marketing, public relations and translations. After college, the military and getting married, he went back to Detroit to work and be near his parents before moving with his young family to Dickinson, TX in January 1965. There he was a member of the Dickinson Masonic Lodge 1324. The family made a brief move to Denver in 1974, but returned in 1975 to again be closer to family. The final move they made was to the city of Spring Valley in 1978 where he transferred his membership from the First United Methodist Church of Dickinson to the Chapelwood United Methodist Church.

In 1991 he changed professional courses and earned his teaching certificate from the University of Houston. He taught in the Houston Independent School District for three years, afterwards moving to the Spring Branch Independent School District in 1995. He received his master’s degree in Second Language Education from the University of Houston in 1997.

He is survived by his wife of sixty years Barbara Ann, his daughter Susan Carol Evans and son-in-law, Stanley Evans, his son David Evan Jeffers and daughter-in-law, Sandee Jeffers; his grandchildren Stan Evans, Chris Evans, Jenny Evans, Evan Jeffers, Michelle Jeffers and Cheryl Jeffers, and other cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

One of Dick’s biggest passions was music. Inspired by his mother he began playing the ukulele when he was very young and learned to play several stringed instruments as well as the piano. He was a self-taught musician, learning by ear, and did not learn to read music until into his 70’s. During his musical career he appeared on television for Toast of the Town and the Arthur Godfrey Show. While serving in the Army he played in a quartet called the Harmonaires, who, in 1954, won the first All-Army Talent Show for the entire Caribbean Command and performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. In Houston he was featured on Steve Smith’s Special Edition news program.

He taught ukulele to senior adult groups and other ukulele bands. In 1991, he assembled 30 ukulele players into a band and played a concert for Foley’s department store. He participated in ukulele festivals in British Columbia, New York City, Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. Dick regularly performed with The Sunshiners, a group of Christian entertainers who play for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, churches and senior groups in the greater Houston Area, and occasionally played with an English band and a jazz group.

Dick was fascinated by the giraffe, an animal for which he had a special affinity. Throughout his home he had images and figures of giraffes, and he was always thrilled to take his grandchildren to the zoo to see his favorite animal. His last trip to the Houston Zoo in late November of 2014 was to help celebrate his youngest grandchild’s 18th birthday.

A member of Sigma Chi from university days, Dick was active in his fraternity to the very end including planning this year’s “Big Game Dinner” for which he was very excited to attend with one of his nephews who is also a Sigma Chi. He was also a natural athlete, an inexhaustible runner, and an avid table tennis player. He was a Senior Olympian in table tennis and won numerous medals in his 70s and early 80’s. Of all the sports he played, his lifelong passion was baseball which he played in school, the army and adult leagues. He attended hundreds of Astros games over the years as a diehard fan, even witnessing live the first Astro’s World Series game in Houston with his son. He was extremely proud of attending games with his son every year since 1966 and many games with his grandsons. He loved gadgets of all kinds, whether receiving them as gifts, or giving them away to his family members, whom he made sure to always equip with clocks, flashlights and radios. He was never afraid to learn about new technology, from computers for his work, or audio equipment for his music.

A bit of jokester, Dick was almost never without a grin on his face. He could make a joke in almost any situation and had a talent for bringing a smile to people’s faces and laughter from a room. He loved to put on a silly wig or a hat, such as one with a toucan beak, and many others while performing with the Sunshiners or solo. He was particularly proud of performing some one-man shows for his wife’s aunt and uncle for both anniversaries and birthdays. But he was not without a soft spot and frequently left little love notes, often with illustrations, for the love of his life, his wife Barbara.