Weyman A. Hartley went home to his Lord and his beloved wife Gretchen, Monday the 30th of July 2018. Born May 4, 1925 in Springer, New Mexico, he spent most of his early childhood in Capitan, New Mexico working and farming on a cattle ranch. At 13, he decided he was ready to take care of himself so he left home. A short stint working on road construction crews landed him in El Paso, Texas at the truck stop on Paisano, which was the old Interstate-10. He learned to drive tractor trailer rigs while washing them as part of his work and then started driving long haul gasoline trucks throughout New Mexico, Arizona and California.
He joined his sister and brother in Los Angeles at 16 to start his high school education. World War II began and at 17, with the permission of his parents, joined the Navy. His service began in the battle for the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. When that battle was over he was sent to Australia where the next few years were spent on troop transports piloting landing craft filled with Marines into four separate island invasions during the war. After the war he helped transport German prisoners of war from Canada to England where they were repatriated back to Germany.
Weyman then returned to New Mexico where he obtained his degree from New Mexico State University in Civil Engineering. While finishing his degree at NMSU, he met the love of his life, Gretchen Munzinger, and they were married. After a short time working in engineering he spent the next few decades working for William Volker & Co., a national home furnishings wholesaler. He ended that career in Dallas, Texas managing stores in a multistate region. Moving back to El Paso in the early eighties, he spent that last few working years in real estate sales for local companies.
Weyman was a faithful Catholic, serving on the parish counsel of St. Mathews Catholic Church. He devoted a great deal of time to the charitable works of both the Knights of Columbus and the St. Vincent de Paul Society
He was respected by his family and friends, who knew him as a caring, loving man. He possessed a profound strength of character that never wavered in his positive outlook on life, family and Country, no matter what problem he faced. He was preceded in death by his wife. He lived to see all seven of his grandchildren succeed in their lives and pursuits and welcomed 3 great-grandchildren to his extended family. He was and still is an inspiration to his family that survive him, his daughter Patricia Gordon, her husband Jim and their sons Alex and Brian, his son Michael W. Hartley, his wife Sharron and their daughters Kirsten and Allison, and his son Gregory O. Hartley, his wife Lorry and their children Meagen, Rachel and Jake. Weyman is also survived by his brothers-in-law, Richard Munzinger, Fritz Munzinger and his wife Joan and sister-in-law Joy Hartley.
We celebrate his life and legacy on August 14th, which would have been the 70th wedding anniversary of Gretchen and Weyman.
