J.D. "Jack" Conlee

J.D. (Jack) Conlee has gone to be with his Lord, and has reunited with his beloved and beautiful wife, Betty Jo, on Monday February 22, the day after what would have been their 68th wedding anniversary. Jack, or Daddy Jack as most friends called him, was born to Jess Emmett and Florence Locke Conlee on July 22, 1923 in Bryan, Texas, where he was raised and fully lived out his 92 years. Visitation will be on Tuesday, March 1, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Memorial Funeral Chapel in Bryan. A graveside service on Wednesday, March 2, at 9:30 AM is open to friends and family at Bryan City Cemetery and will be followed by a memorial service at First Baptist Church in Bryan at 11:00 AM. To see the hand crafted pine and oak casket that Jack designed for himself, please come to the visitation or graveside service. Many friends contributed to the construction, and a special hand-forged cross adorning the casket was made and given by Jeff and Alan Lee of Steephollow Forge. Memorial Funeral Chapel of Bryan is handling the funeral services and visitation

Daddy Jack was a legend. One of the “Greatest Generation,” he was a man of Integrity and Honor. He served in WW II, landing in Calais, France, and marched across Europe, then finishing up at the Battle of the Bulge. He returned from the war to marry Betty Jo Wilson, the love of his life, who preceded him in death in August of 2010. Jack was a man that served not only his country, but his community with an unselfish attitude. He served on the Bryan City Council, then served as Mayor of Bryan during a time when public service was just that, service for the good of the public. He was instrumental in bringing many major capital improvement projects to Bryan. He and Travis Bryan, Jr., first floated the idea of a closer relationship with College Station which resulted in a combined Chamber of Commerce. He was never a politician, only and always serving for the better good of the community. He served on, and was President of, almost every Board in town, from Chamber of Commerce to the Lions Club and Briarcrest Country Club, where he was a founding member. He served as President of Southwest Movers Association and was active in transportation issues at the State and National level. His strong sense of public service came from the tutelage of this father and grandfather who both served as Brazos County Sheriff in their days. As a child, Jack, his mother and father, Sheriff Conlee, lived above the jail. Unselfish service was part of his DNA.

From boyhood, he was taught hard work. He worked at a local market called D. Mikes Grocery, where he was a grocery delivery boy and runner to fetch whatever was needed to complete a customer’s order. During his stint at Texas A&M, he worked at A.M. Waltrop’s Mens Wear store and he was always helping his father, Jess Conlee, at the ranch and at Jess Conlee Moving, where he and his father and identical twin brothers, Doug and Donald, moved everything from household goods, to cattle, to houses. They even moved cotton gins and courthouses. Later, as president of Conlee Brothers Moving and Storage, Jack led the family business to success in a very competitive industry. Conlee Brothers Moving and Storage was a Mayflower Moving franchise for 53 years, but household goods did not lead to notoriety; Jack’s ability to create never used before moving methods led to jobs like moving every book from the crowded “stacks” of the old library at Texas A&M, to the new Cushing Library, where they are today. His ingenious “book dolly” design allowed the many miles of books to be moved in exact order and in a timely fashion, actually finishing ahead of schedule. Some of the other libraries include Southwest Texas State, Texas A&M Corpus, and St. Edwards University in Austin. He even engineered the removal of all the old wooden dorm furniture in the Texas A&M corps dorms and oversaw the installation of the then new “Steelcase” beds, desks and chairs by using a construction elevator that attached to the outside of the building. If he could get it loose from its foundation, Jack Conlee could move it.

His house moving skills, learned from his father, made him the man to call when something seemed far too big to move or really needed to be moved. He moved large commercial safes, printing presses, super-large telephone equipment and the first enormous computers when they arrived at Texas A&M. Even the old pipe organ at the original First Baptist Church was moved from the “organ pit,” up and out and into the new church without the aid of a hoist. Simple house moving techniques made it look easy.

As a student, he studied shop in 1939, at the then, very new Stephen F. Austin High School, where he developed a passion for woodworking. At A&M his major was Industrial Education and that brought forth his true love, which was building. He made beautiful furniture, he made industrial equipment, all kinds of things. He built a “jig” that allowed him to construct prefab walls for houses inside a weatherproof warehouse and then after preparing a foundation, use his moving skills to haul the wall panels to the job site and then assemble a house in only days.

As hard as he worked, he played just the same. Of course, the two were never at the same moment. He believed in “working hard,” then “playing hard.” Jack, and his wife Betty Jo, loved to go dancing and, along with his two brothers and their wives, they threw an annual “Conlee Party” at the Brazos Center for friends, family, Conlee cousins and business customers. An annual appreciation celebration. Dove hunts were held in the fall at the family ranch for customers and friends as well, but the most fun he had for many years was driving the family ski boat on Lake Somerville. Despite the fact he could not swim, he would strap on the life vest and pull anyone that wanted to ski or learn to ski, all day long. Camping at the lake was a natural. He taught many to camp, while for over 17 years, Jack and Nooks Bond headed up a group of kids for an annual Easter Trail ride. The trail ride always ended with an Easter Sun Rise service provided by a local minister.

Jack never forgot his upbringing that his mother, Florence Locke Conlee, provided. She taught Sunday school at First Baptist Church for 50 years, and for 41 of those years, she never missed a Sunday, which made the only legitimate excuse for not being at church was the Easter Trail Ride. All other Sundays ended up at his parents’ house, or Meme and Bootsie, as the kids called them, where bar-b-qued, or fried chicken, and all the trimmings were often the favored menu. This experience probably inspired Jack and his twin brothers, Doug and Donald, to open 3-C Bar-B-Q in the early 70’s. Jack, of course, took on the challenge to remodel the old Quonset hut building, the first restaurant, where curving walls made for an interesting finish out.

Jack is preceded in death by his parents, his wife of 62 years, Betty Jo Wilson Conlee, two younger brothers, Doug and Donald, is survived by his children: Caren Atkinson, and husband David, of Weatherford, TX, Craig Conlee, and his wife Carol, of Mason, TX, and Betty Ann Richter, of Bryan. Additionally, Daddy Jack has six grandchildren: Aimee Conlee, and her husband Ric Murphy, of Albuquerque, NM, Abbie Conlee Wertheim, and her husband Steve Wertheim, of San Francisco, CA, JC Richter, and wife Valerie, of San Antonio, TX, John Wayne Richter, of Belton, TX, Seth Atkinson, and his wife Amy, of Weatherford, TX, and Sarah Atkinson Knox, and her husband Kevin, of Weatherford, TX. Daddy Jack now has six great grandchildren: Ryan, Cooper and Ainsley Atkinson, of Weatherford, TX, Camdyn Knox, of Weatherford, TX, and Marlena and Gwendolyn Wertheim, of San Francisco, CA.

The family would like to give special thanks to Shelia Morrison of Bryan for her professional and compassionate care of both Jack, and Betty Jo, and her friendship to the family and all those that visited. Thanks to Pete Clary, a best friend and business associate for over 60 years, and Don Austin, for all those Monday lunches at Margie’s, and for their undying companionship to Jack. Thanks to the gifted nurses of Hospice Brazos Valley, at The St. Joseph Manor, whose patience, compassion and focused attention to every need made a very tough situation so much easier for the whole family. Also all the vendors and friends that would stop what they were doing to come to Jack’s aid. There are so many of you, just too many to mention. The family is eternally grateful for your presence and respect.

Please consider Hospice Brazos Valley, First Baptist Church or a charity of your liking in lieu of flowers.