Robert Drake Burnette, known as “Bobby” to his family and oldest school friends, and as “Bob” to work colleagues, lost his hard fought battle with cancer on August 24, 2021. Sensitive, smart, funny, and exasperatingly stubborn, his faith sustained him as he found a special peace in his final but active months.
Born in Mount Vernon, Illinois in 1953, while his parents were briefly living out of Texas, he was the elder son of Wanda Drake Burnette and Bobby West Burnette. Raised in Austin, he was a 1972 graduate of McCallum High School, and continued his education at the University of Texas, where he received his BBA in 1976. Later, while pursuing an MBA at UT, Bob opted to forego graduate studies to earn a then sizeable income working for Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages. In the early 1980s, the lure of the oil patch led him into oil and gas exploration and promotion, first in Austin and later with two companies in Houston. When oil prices collapsed, Bob returned to Austin, joining the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in 1988. He moved to the then Texas Department of Health in 2000, rising to the position of Director of Purchasing as the agency grew into the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Retiring in 2016, Bob briefly returned to assist the HHSC purchasing department for several months in 2018.
Bob cherished his two daughters—Kaylan Drake Burnette (husband Jake Fellner) and Laura Lain Burnette—and was “Papa-proud” of the adult lives they were establishing. He also is survived by his brother Kevin Burnette (wife Patricia), sister Kelly Bumpass (husband Mark), Aunt Susan White, nieces Constance Callen Burnette and Anna Grace Burnette, nephew Robert Bumpass, his former wife, Kathleen Stischer Burnette, and Christina Lane, an unstinting friend with whom he shared many important conversations, frustrations, laughs, and a cocktail or two. He was preceded in death by his parents.
As a young man, Bob enjoyed playing sports, particularly football. When he could no longer compete on the football field after suffering an early severe knee injury, he turned to the Texas waters he loved, embracing surfing as a lifelong passion, traveling to Port Aransas or South Padre whenever he could. Bob also resumed playing golf, which he learned as a kid from his maternal grandfather at Lions Municipal (“Muny”) Golf Course—as had his father. It was where Bob would teach both his daughters.
According to his regular “golf buddies,” he developed an impressive golf game as a right-hander, despite being left-handed. He and the group routinely played at Muny and other area courses for the better part of twenty years. Sports aside, he continued his tenacious oil painting efforts until his death.
Bobby found an abiding faith in God early. He was active in Young Life, and he resolutely carried his Christian faith with him throughout his adult life, most recently nurtured at St. Francis Anglican Church. Sustained by faith, Bobby embraced the fact that every day was a gift, reaching out to family and friends, celebrating and thanking them. Thank you, Bobby, for that last sunset sail.
A memorial service officiated by Father Len Giacolone will begin at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, September 21, 2021, at the Clubhouse, Lions Municipal Golf Course (Muny), 2901 Enfield Road in Austin, Texas. A reception to follow until 8 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Bob’s name to Save Muny may be made to The Muny Conservancy, at https://www.themunyconservancy.com/.
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