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Hedgcoxe family mourns death of Pat Garner Hedgcoxe
By Kim Nguyen, Staff Writer
The Hedgcoxe family, a prominent family in the Collin County area, is mourning the death of the last of the family’s fourth generation. Mr. Pat Garner Hedgcoxe died at his home on July 26. He was 76 years old.
Mr. Hedgcoxe was born to Wilbur Leland and Emma Lou Brown Hedgcoxe on Jan. 4, 1993 at his family’s home near Allen.
“He was like a brother to me,” said Barbara Hedgcoxe Bentley, Mr. Hedgcoxe’s niece. “He was a very unique person and a lot of fun to be around.”
“He couldn’t stand it when I beat him,” she said with a laugh.
She said they traveled from Allen to Plano to school together using the Interurban Railway.
“He had this moped that he drove around,” Bentley said. “I was always so scared but knew he’d take care of me.”
After graduating from Plano High School, Mr. Hedgcoxe graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. He continued his education and obtained his Ph.D. in engineering mechanics in 1964. “He was brilliant, his mind was always working,” Bentley said. “He was always thinking about how to make things happen and coming up with new ideas.”
Mr. Hedgcoxe worked initially as a teacher’s assistant at UT-Austin and then served in the U.S. Air Force as a 1st Lieutenant in Albuquerque, N.M. Mr. Hedgcoxe worked in the defense industry over the years and was employed with Tracor, Inc. in Austin, and later with General Dynamics and Lockheed, both in Fort Worth. Mr. Hedgcoxe began his teaching career with a short tenure at Trinity University in San Antonio. Then in the late 1960s, he became a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Houston Main Campus. In the early 1970s Mr. Hedgcoxe enjoyed the challenge of opening the new engineering department at the University of Houston, Victoria Campus. As department head, he spent evenings recruiting a full staff and spent nights teaching himself new subjects for lecture the following day.
Though Mr. Hedgcoxe hadn’t lived in the Plano-Allen area for nearly 40 years, he still traveled to North Texas fairly regularly to visit relatives, Bentley said.
“He really and truly loved his family,” she said. “He was a very good person and did not have an enemy in the world.” Mr. Hedgcoxe was preceded in death by both his parents as well as his sister, Wilburta McCarley; brothers, Jack Hedgcoxe and John Hedgcoxe; and sister, Mary Bankhead. Mr. Hedgcoxe is survived by his wife of 50 years, Patricia Blackwell Hedgcoxe; his son, H. Reiffert Hedgcoxe and wife Anne Mc Cauley Hedgcoxe of Houston; his daughter, Lou H. Houser and husband Mark Houser, also of Houston; and his six grandchildren, Clair Hedgcoxe, Will Hedgcoxe, Dixie Houser, Sarah Houser, Ellie Houser and Amy Houser, all of Houston. Bentley said about a dozen nieces and nephews are still in the Collin County area.
A loving husband, father and grandfather, Mr. Hedgcoxe was loved dearly by family and many friends. He loved his years of teaching and mentoring students. He was well known for his oratory of Robert W. Service, and particularly his rendition of “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” He was also an avid sailor and spent many happy days sailing at Lake Travis, Galveston Bay and Canyon Lake. A memorial service took place on Thursday at Grace Episcopal Church in Cuero, about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio, where Mr. Hedgcoxe and his family lived. Barefoot Bankhead, Bill Blackwell, Sam Glass, Henry Hedgcoxe, Tim Megason, Harold Nichols, Bob Reichard and Bucky Sager served as pallbearers.
At the end of the memorial, Bentley said Mr. Hedgecoxe’s six grandchildren said a final farewell using his trademark left-hand salute.
“For as long as I can remember, that was his way of saying good-bye,” she said.
Bentley said Mr. Hedgcoxe was always very proud to bear the family name and have it recognized in Plano and Collin County. He attended the dedication ceremony of Henry Oliver Hedgcoxe Elementary School, named after his great-great-grandfather, in 1991.
“It is a tremendous honor to be a Hedgcoxe and have a school and street named after your family,” Bentley said. “He loved carrying the family name.”
The Hedgcoxe family would like to express its deepest gratitude and heartfelt thanks to Dr. Jennifer Gonzales and all the nurses and EMS at Cuero Community Hospital, Dr. Qadri and nurses at oncology and hematology of Victoria, as well as Vollie Griffin, Becky Lira, John Jackson and Don and Elva Eggins. To celebrate Mr. Hedgcoxe’s love of the University of Texas and passion for teaching, the family has created the Pat Garner Hedgcoxe Endowed Scholarship in Engineering Mechanics at UT Austin. If desired, remembrances may be made to the Endowment at the following address: The University of Texas at Austin, Cockrell School of Engineering, Attn: Pat Garner Hedgcoxe Endowed Scholarship, 1 University Station C2104, Austin, Texas 78712-0287.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
jh wrote on Aug 3, 2009 1:29 PM:
" I believe his birth year should be 1933... "
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