Carl H. Nordstrand

Carl Herlof Nordstrand, of Houston, passed away peacefully on Friday, the 18th of February 2022, following a brief illness. Running his business until a few short months prior to his passing kept this oil and gas wildcatter the lively center of many Houston business and social interactions.

Whether hosting a weekly card gathering at his home for his numerous friends, organizing and hosting family holidays, or toughing it out in oilfields of Texas, Oklahoma or across the Southwest, Carl was a vivacious and charismatic gentleman in all settings. From his earliest jobs of enthusiastically waiting tables at the San Jacinto Inn Restaurant with his brothers, through corporate roles at Marathon Oil and with the Texas Railroad Commission, and on to real estate and building homes, Carl had a flare for business. Ultimately, as a “more than 30-year” owner and principal of his beloved oil and gas business, and as a real estate entrepreneur, Carl will be remembered as a very hardworking businessman.

Carl was a member of Saint Luke’s United Methodist Church in Houston where he enjoyed the fellowship of Christian gatherings. He was a decades-long member of the Houston Petroleum Club, as well as a supporter of many local and national philanthropic organizations. He also supported and donated to many political organizations throughout the years.

Carl was a graduate of Deer Park High School where he was a star athlete and scholar. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston, earning degrees in math, mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering while running track and setting athletic records. In later years, Carl was a knowledgeable and enthusiastic supporter of his much-loved Houston Cougar basketball and football athletic programs. In 2015, Carl received top honors by the University of Houston with the award named the “UH Cougar 100” for his business acumen and as being one of the top 100 companies owned or operated by a UH Cougar alumnus. Carl served as a member of the Cougar Business Network Committee and served on the Dean’s Excellence Committee. He never missed an opportunity to share his passion for sports with family and friends and often traveled with the UH athletic teams to events throughout the years.

He served in the United States Air Force. While stationed in London, England, he met and married Barbara Caspell Nordstrand who would later become the mother of his children, his life-long friend, and coworker.

Born in Deer Park on the 4th of March 1932, to Mabel and Arthur Nordstrand, Carl was one of eleven siblings. He was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers, Arthur “Buddy,” Elray, and Sigvald “Sig;” and his sisters, Mary Sharpless, Martha “June” Nordstrand, Joy Angela “Angel” Smith, Marie Strandberg, and Symova “Jean” Baxter. He is survived by his sister, Nell Cox; his brother, Victor; his children, Paula Kay Sabrsula, Linda Sue Nordstrand, Carl Michael “Joe” Nordstrand and his wife Monica. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Justin Sabrsula and Kathryn Sabrsula, Leif and Cyrus Nordstrand; and great-grandson, Miguel Sabrsula. He will be missed by his family, friends, loves, and colleagues alike.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o'clock in the afternoon until seven o'clock in the evening on Monday, the 28th of February, in the drawing room of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A funeral service is to be conducted at half-past eleven o'clock in the morning on Tuesday, the 1st of March, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons.

Interment will follow, via escorted cortege, at Grand View Memorial Park in Pasadena.

In lieu of customary remembrances, and for those desiring, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in his name be directed to the charity of choice.

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