Harry A. Hess

Memorial Services for Harry A. Hess will be held Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. at Wilke-Clay-Fish Funeral Home in Austin. Mr. Hess, age 95, of Austin and formerly of Canyon Lake, Texas, was born June 22, 1912 in Fern County, Pennsylvania. He died peacefully during an afternoon nap on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007 at the nursing center in which he had resided the past three years. Cremation will be followed by internment of ashes at Mountain Valley Cemetery in the Canyon Lake area, next to wife Polly Hess, who preceded him in death in 2001. Mr. Hess attended The University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1933 with a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineering. Shortly after graduation, he took a position as reservoir engineer with Sinclair Oil Refining Co. and moved to East Texas. Mr. Hess later moved to Houston with first wife, Vera, where they raised two children and he held a position as district engineer for the state railroad commission. Mr. Hess was also a freelance photojournalist for a major oilfield advertising agency, an activity that fostered his lifelong interest in photography. Mr. Hess retired in the mid-1970s and moved to Central Texas with his second wife, Polly. They built a retirement cottage near the banks of the Guadalupe River, and traveled frequently worldwide. Mr. Hess’s other hobbies included bass fishing, foreign languages, gardening, feeding the wild birds near his rural home, and photography, the latter for which he always dispensed advice (“…don’t shoot too high…”) to anyone who would listen. Mr. Hess is survived by son Charles G. ‘Chuck’ Hess and wife, Janine, of Austin; daughter Judy McLarry and husband, Danny, of Kyle; grandchildren Hal McLarry and wife, Laura, of Garland, Leigh Brazier and husband, Mark, of Kyle, Shana McLarry of Sacramento, and Laurie Hess Manske of Austin; six great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. Mr. Hess was preceded in death by his parents Henry and Anna Hess and numerous siblings; first wife and mother of his children, Vera Penry Hess; and granddaughter Heather Hess. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Austin Humane Society.