Barry Leigh Bennick

Barry Leigh Bennick, 85, loving husband, father, brother, grandfather (Grandbarry), uncle, and friend was called home to be with Jesus on October 5, 2022. He was born May 23, 1937 in Houston, Texas to Bert and Della Bennick. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers-in-law Lynn Borden Brooks and Harry Louis Brooks, Jr.; and sister-in-law Nancy Brooks. He is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Ann; his children Brad Leigh Bennick and wife Chris and Kyle Allen Bennick; grandchildren Martin, Rachel, Mark and Lucy Bennick; sisters Susan Pace and Kathy Larrigan and husband Richard Levine; sister-in-law Shirley Brooks; nephews and nieces Bryan Brooks, David Brooks and husband Josh Bourgeois, Hollie Dickens and husband Joel, Geoff Brooks, Diana Harrell, David Harrell, and Rebecca Harry and husband Mark; and many other loving relatives and friends.

Barry earned his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Master of Education (M.Ed.) degrees from the University of Houston (UH). He was a member of the UH Religious Groups Council and Alpha Phi Omega. As a member of the Cougar Guard, he was a custodian for Shasta, the University of Houston’s first live cougar mascot.

After graduation, Barry found teaching positions in El Campo, Texas for himself and Ann, with jobs starting a few weeks after they married in August of 1962. After their first child, Brad, was born, the family moved to Galveston, Texas, where Barry taught at Ball High School. Later, Barry became Chairman of the Business Department at Galveston Community College.

After leaving Galveston, Barry continued his teaching career in the Houston Independent School District while building an investment and rental businesses in Houston. He was a licensed Texas Real Estate Broker and Realtor.

With his passion for the great outdoors, Barry became active in the Houston Canoe Club in the early 1980’s and focused on conservation of rivers and outdoors while assuring reasonable access to God’s treasures for the human population. Among numerous projects, he went to Austin, along with others, to present the case for conservation and access to the waters of Texas. He also fought the City of Houston over a lake weir (low water dam) which was causing danger to the public and killing fish when they could no longer go beyond the weir. (He won.) He led and joined numerous canoe trips with Canoe Club friends, and won trophies for “most miles canoed” (or kayaked) and “most trips led” for several years. He and Ann had many canoeing adventures over the years, including a Sierra Club trip to the Atchafalaya swamp, where he had to assert control over the group to find lost canoers, etc.

In 1993, he and Ann purchased their favorite canoeing place, Pine Needle Lodge on Caddo Lake, and began another adventure. He and Ann taught many folks how to canoe, expanded their knowledge of the wilderness known as Caddo Lake, and worked with others including the Caddo Lake Institute to maintain sufficient water in the lake and to fight invasive species that might damage the lake and its ecology. He also enjoyed the local group of friends who held traveling potluck Bible studies, led by good friend and minister, Tom Walker.

Barry’s artistic talents included building a wooden kayak and a beautiful woodstrip canoe, doing charcoal/pastel drawings for his family, painting numerous and humorous signs for Pine Needle Lodge, and using his talents to illustrate conservation project recommendations. He also built pirogues for the TNT movie "Two For Texas", which had many scenes filmed at Pine Needle Lodge.

Barry and Ann eventually retired from Pine Needle Lodge, and returned to Houston to spend their later years closer to their children and grandchildren.