Jerome Weynand

Jerome Weynand passed away at his newly-adopted home in Boerne, Texas at age 96 on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. He was born in Hondo, Texas, on November 2, 1926, to Carline Bendele Weynand and Robert S. Weynand.

Although the family later moved to San Antonio, much of his heart always remained in Medina County, with many visits over the years to Hondo, D’Hanis, Castroville, and the homes of friends and family in the area, including Quihi, Dunlay, Devine, Fort Lincoln, Biry, and points in between.

He and his late wife, Adrienne, were longtime active members in the Castro Colonies Heritage Association, and they enjoyed several trips to meet extended family in Europe, especially the Alsace region and others areas from which their immigrant ancestors came to settle in Medina County in the 1840’s.

Jerome used his newspaper reporter experience to do extensive research – finding ship’s logs; military rosters; newspapers; church records; and court records -- before the internet made such work much easier. He thus was able to write or contribute to a number of books and writings describing people and events in this part of Texas during the 19th and 20th centuries. Even at age 96, he completed a series of handwritten essays on yellow legal pad pages, to pass on favorite memories of people and occasions he recalled, and research he had done, so that the rest of us down the years could know what life was like before and during his lifetime.

One especially significant achievement was to establish a Texas State Historical Marker on a road near Hondo, describing an encounter of a Weynand ancestor and two other boys with a group of Indians, while taking care of a cattle herd. One of the boys was killed, while the Weynand boy (and the other) disappeared, never to be found again despite his father traveling over the years to track down rumors of kidnaping and sightings.

Other research helped him track two ancestors who came from Europe to Medina County – one soon joined the US Army in the war with Mexico in the 1840’s and returned safely. The other joined Hood’s Texas Brigade in the Confederate Army shortly after arriving in Texas, only to perish in 1862 at Antietam. Without Jerome’s documentation, the interesting stories of these and others would have been lost, and he didn’t want that to happen.

Jerome’s wish to create a legacy for the future perhaps explains many of his life’s activities. They all seem to be tied together by a desire to serve others, to make life better for young people, and to document the past so that future generations could appreciate the people and events of past times and their effect on modern times.

Thus, one can see a common thread throughout his many years of being active as a child and an adult in the Boy Scouts (and a predecessor group called Junior Yanks); a newspaper reporter with the San Antonio Express-News; a long career at what is now the Alamo Colleges district as registrar, dean of students, vice president and president of the district; and then a second career as the founding Executive Director and later a board member of the Baumberger Endowment scholarship fund which enables Bexar County residents to go to college. He and Adrienne later set up a scholarship fund through the Alamo Colleges Foundation.

As an extension of his career in education, he wrote and published a book describing how the current Alamo Colleges community college district came to be formed in the 1920’s and how it developed into several campuses over the years thanks to the work of many thoughtful and dedicated people across the city. As a student of San Antonio College himself, when it was in the old German-English School buildings (now part of a hotel campus on South Alamo Street near La Villita), and later as an employee, he knew firsthand some of the people and events involved. His book has left the city a valuable asset to understand who and what made today’s community colleges possible to grow and serve as they have.

Earlier, while working for the college district and with a young family, he also managed to earn a master’s degree from Trinity University. That led him to become part of the initial class of college administrators earning a Ph.D degree in community college administration at UT-Austin, thanks to a grant from the Kellogg cereals company to help community colleges help their local citizens. Jerome became a grateful customer of Kellogg products ever since.

During all this long professional career locally, he also held leadership roles in state and regional educational organizations, such as the Southern Association accrediting group for community colleges across multiple states, and a Texas group of college presidents which promoted the welfare of community colleges. He greatly enjoyed a 50-plus year membership in the San Antonio Kiwanis Club, and served on the board and as president of the San Antonio Area Foundation, as well as having leadership roles at First Presbyterian Church and Grace Presbyterian Church.

Again, the common thread throughout all the professional and civic activities was an enjoyment of people and a concern for their ongoing wellbeing. Jerome seemed to know everybody, as any trip to a store or restaurant seemed to show, and he enjoyed staying in touch with people across the years – quickly embracing the advent of e-mail and electronic picture sharing. He often amazed us all with having a story ready to tell about a person or place or event from his long life, and he always had a number of things he intended to do in the future. So, at 96, he had accomplished plenty of them and kept making plans for the future.

Despite his active work life, which included lots of evenings and weekends and travel, he made a point to make time for his immediate family and extended family. He and Adrienne were able to travel in their retirement years, and he and his son, John, spent many a happy time in a canoe, or somewhere out in the country, or at ballgames, or playing catch in the back yard.

Jerome is survived by John and his wife, Sharon; by his brother Robert’s son and daughter, David Weynand and Carol Simpson and their families; his niece, Janet Crain and her family; Medina County cousins even if they live in other states now; and lifelong friends Cynthia and Bob Guyon.

The family extends its grateful appreciation to the people who have helped Jerome in recent years – his longtime neighbors where Jerome and Adrienne lived since 1955; and the healthcare and retirement home staff who are so dedicated to helping others. Even at the last, he always wanted to ask each person’s name and get to know them and thank them.

Any memorial contributions may be made to Grace Presbyterian Church (950 Donaldson, San Antonio, TX 78228), or the charity of your choice.