James Herbert Templeton

Jim (PeePaw) was married to the love of his life Lillian Swenson Templeton for more than seventy-one years. She preceded him in death in 2022. He was also preceded in death by his parents Howard Johnston Templeton and Celia Myrtle (Wright) Templeton, and older brother Howard Wright Templeton. He is survived by his son Jimmy Templeton (Barbara) and his daughter Carol Baker (Randy). He is also survived by his grandchildren Tim Ramsey, Samantha Chapman (Rob), Jimmy Templeton, Michael Templeton and Katy Hamilton (Wade), plus step-grandchildren Brad Baker (Debbie) and Kristen Malone (Mike). He is blessed with four great-grandchildren, Asher, Kylen, Nolan and Emma as well as eight step-great grandchildren. He loved each and every member of his family.

Jim was born on June 3, 1928 in San Antonio, Texas. His father moved to San Antonio during World War I, and was lucky enough to meet his wife in church. After relocating several times, they moved back to San Antonio when Jim’s brother was born deaf and they needed to be close to family. To no one’s surprise, Jim was an excellent student throughout his school career. He took pride in being the cadet commander of the ROTC unit at his high school in San Antonio. After graduation from high school, Jim enrolled in the University of Texas where he obtained is BS in Chemical Engineering and a MS in Chemistry. It was during his time at UT he met Lil. She was encouraged to take courses at the University of Texas, which ultimately led to their meeting. Jim, four years her junior, was a graduate laboratory instructor and as luck would have it, she was in his lab. Mutual friends encouraged them to date, and eight months after their first date, they were married. Their first home was in Freeport, Texas when Jim was working for Dow Chemical. They moved back to Austin in 1952 when Jim took a job at Jefferson Chemical and lived there ever since.

Jim was a multi-talented individual. In addition to being a Chemical Engineer, he was an electrician, a carpenter, an astronomer, an excellent bricklayer, and pecan expert. He built his own six-inch reflecting telescope in the 1950s, grinding the mirror by hand. Many pecan trees around the Austin area were grafted by Jim. He was also a perfectionist. If you asked PeePaw for an answer to a question, you best be prepared for a description on how to get to the answer, even if it was a yes or no question.

Jim was also an excellent athlete playing softball for many years. Golf was really his sport. At UT he won intermural doubles and singles several times during the late forties and finished runner-up in the Austin Men’s championship one year. He and Lil loved playing golf together and took many golf trips to England as well to places in the U.S. Introduced to the game by his father early in life, he passed that passion on to his family.

Jim was a life-long member of First English Lutheran Church. Lil was a member when they first met, and after their marriage at the church they continued their membership. Jim described himself as an Evangelist, and the transformational event in his life was a revival when he was a young boy. Both he and Lil lived by the philosophy of “Be Strong, Be Happy and Be Thankful.”

We would like to thank the wonderful staff at Juniper Village at Spicewood Summit assisted living. The entire staff gave Jim the best care possible and treated our family as part of theirs.

We will miss you PeePaw.

A private family only graveside service will be held. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the First English Lutheran Church Memorial Fund (3001 Whitis Avenue, Austin, TX 78705, 512-478-1933).

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”