Funeral services will be held Thursday, January 17, 2019, at 2 p.m. at Memory Chapel in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with Rev. Stephen Hooks, pastor, officiating. A private burial will follow in Memory Hill Gardens in Tuscaloosa with Memory Chapel, a Dignity Memorial Provider, directing. Visitation will be one hour prior to services.
W. Gary Hooks was born on October 4, 1927 in Asheville, North Carolina to John Brantley Hooks, Jr. and Virginia Evelyn Fortune. Gary graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, receiving B.S. (1950), M.S. (1953), and Ph.D. (1960) degrees in geology. Gary married Peggy Raye Lucas on December 27, 1951 and moved to Tuscaloosa in 1954, taking a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology. He was a professor of geology at the University of Alabama from 1954 to 1994, chairman of the Department of Geology from 1969 to 1977, and acting chair from 1968 to 1969 and 1981 to 1982. He received the UA National Alumni Association Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award in 1985, the College of Arts and Sciences Favorite Lecturer Award in 1984, and the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Fellow Award in 1993. Gary continued to teach geology as an adjunct professor until his final retirement in 2013 and was an Honorary Curator of Geology of the Alabama Museum of Natural History.
Survivors include his wife of 67 years, Peggy L. Hooks, daughter Debbie Hooks Luker and husband Bob of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; three sons, William Gary Hooks, Jr. of Huntsville, Alabama, Judson David Hooks and wife, Betsy of Richardson, Texas and Stephen Borden Hooks and wife, Cyndy of Madison, Alabama; grandchildren, Ashley, Mary Catherine, William, Bobby, John, Michael, Bill, Nelson, Hunter, Caleb, Hannah, Alex, Rebekah; great-grandchildren, Daxton, River, Eliana, Benjamin, Anna, Hunter, Hailey, Hudson and Anna Logan.
Memorial contributions may be made to the University of Alabama Department of Geology W. Gary Hooks Endowed Geology Fund, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama, Box 870338, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487.
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