Lee Roy Dillard Jr.

Born in La Feria, Texas on May 28, 1936, to Lee Roy, Sr., and Kathryn Dillard, he was the oldest of 11 children. He grew up on the family farm in Santa Rosa, Texas & the family moved to San Benito in 1951.

He served in the United States Navy from January 31, 1955 to January 18, 1959, where he was part of the star port catapult crew on the USS Randolph aircraft carrier from July 1955 to January 1, 1959. When asked why he didn’t continue to pursue a career in the Navy, he said they never wanted to promote him.

He also served in the Navy Duty Reserves from January 18, 1959 to November 1962.

In his teen years & before he left for the Navy, he worked at the Piggly Wiggly in San Benito, Texas as a stocker/bagger, and at Dolly Vinsant Hospital in San Benito, Texas as a lab assistant.

After the Navy, he worked for the Department of Agriculture of Cameron County as a Cotton Measurer. He would go out to farms around San Benito, Arroyo City, Bayview, and the Los Fresnos area and measure the cotton fields and give the reports back to the department. Measuring was done from the center of the highway to the middle of the cotton fields by using a chain. Farmers were only allowed to plant so many acres, and if they planted over that amount, that portion would have to be plowed up.

He then worked for Strauss Franks in San Benito in the tire department as a manager.

On August 21, 1960, he married the love of his life, Annette Teresa Lasseigne and had two children, Lisa Ann, September 12, 1961, and Mark Anthony, August 20, 1963.

On August 21, 2025, they celebrated 65 years of marriage.

From November 1960 to March 1964, he worked for Rio Grande Valley Gas Company as a serviceman.

From 1964 to 1969, he worked for Lasseigne & Company on their shrimp boats. He started as a header with Frank Lasseigne for about a month, then was promoted to a rig man for about a year. In the spring of 1965, he became captain of the Harris Jr. shrimp boat. Many trips and boxes of shrimp were caught out in the Gulf of Mexico.

In August 1969, he began working for Central Power & Light Company, better known as CP&L, first as an oiler, then as a boiler fireman, and finally as a shift foreman at the power plant in San Benito, Texas. He retired after almost 25 years on May 1, 1994.

They lived in the same house in San Benito, Texas on Reagan Street until 2003 and made the big move to Georgetown, Texas. They moved into their new home on his birthday, May 28, 2003, and have lived there ever since.

He enjoyed traveling, camping and fishing around the US & Canada most, starting out with car trips, to truck campers and then eventually a few travel trailers. He & Annette even went from San Benito, Texas all the way to Alaska with a stop in Canada in their truck & travel trailer.

He was gifted with many talents and skills. He enjoyed building many model airplanes, ships, anything military related, cars and trucks.

He also enjoyed working on his own vehicles to keep up the maintenance of each of them.

He took a home course from Bell & Howell Electronics in the 70’s, where he built/assembled the parts and circuit boards for his very own TV.

He had the talent like his father for woodworking/building cabinets, replacing flooring and remodeling their home in San Benito, Texas several times.

He started playing a flight simulator game several years back & worked at landing planes as he always wanted to be a pilot, but that was the closest he got to flying planes.

Several years back, his family was shocked to see him on social media thru Facebook. When asked, “Dad what made you want to be on Facebook” & he answered, “People were asking me to be on it and I joined”. Others would say “Why are you yelling at people on Facebook”. He would ask “What do you mean?” He was told because when typing all in caps that means you are yelling at others. Well as you all know if you were friends with him on Facebook, the caps continued on.

Joining Facebook was a great way for him to connect with family & long lost friends. Most would say, if they did not see him on the Facebook, they knew something wasn’t right.

He met many a friends in Canada thru his brother William “Bill” Dillard that developed into long-life friendships and many trips to visit them.

He was a very precise person, like in dates, places and wanted to learn something new every day and that he did.

He was a great husband, Dad, grandfather, brother, son and friend.

Life has been good for him he would say and he truly enjoyed his life even through the tough times. He said in his last days that he was so grateful for all the jobs he pursued and was employed at, including pursuing his wife, Annette. He knew the first time he saw her, he would marry her.

He was known to his grandchildren as Punga, which his granddaughter, Lynda Marie named him when she was young. The name stuck and fit him just right.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Lee Roy, Sr. & Kathryn Dillard, brother James Dillard, brother William Thomas (Bill) Dillard, brother Harry Richard Dillard, sister Mary Elizabeth Moran, sister Pamela Sue Lovely, sister Judith Ann Knight, and sister Dorothy Dillard.

Survivors: wife Annette Dillard, daughter Lisa Ann Foret, son Mark Antony Dillard, granddaughter Lynda Marie Dillard, and grandson Michael Anthony Dillard; sisters Patsy Vasquez, Peggy (Keith) Crawford; brother Ronald (Kathy) Dillard; and numerous nieces, nephews, and other relatives.

A graveside service will be held in Killeen, Texas, at the Central State Veterans Cemetery, on Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 10:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to The Caring Place of Georgetown (caringplacetx.org) and Ron Brigmon Ministries ([email protected]).