Harold Wayne Hightower

Harold "Wayne" Hightower passed away on the 27th of June 2011. Wayne was born in Mt. Vernon, Texas to Hubert Hightower and Grace Moore Hightower on the 24th of November 1927, and was a long-time member of the Houston business community.

Wayne was the president of Hightower Oil and Gas Company, and was a director of the IPAA, Texas Midcontinent Oil & Gas Association, and Olix Industries. He was honored to be designated an All-American Wildcatter .He also was active in the ranching business in Medina County for over 31 years.

After proudly serving his country in the U.S. Army in the Philippines during World War II, Wayne attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated with a business degree. While at UT, he was vice-president of the Kappa Alpha Order and a member of the Silver Spurs.

He served in numerous leadership roles for the University of Texas, including president of the Houston Texas Exes alumni chapter, president of the UT Chancellors Council, president of the UT Parents Association, chairman of the Silver Spurs Advisory Board, and founding director and president of the UT Health Science Center-Houston Development Board. He and his wife Emma Sue were honored as "Houston Texas Exes of the Year" by the UT alumni in 1991. He also was president of the Ellwood Foundation, a director of Meyerland Bank, and a founding director of Tanglewood Bank.

Wayne twice served as director and as vice-president of the Houston Country Club. He was also a member of the Ramada Club, the Petroleum Club and the Argyle Club of San Antonio. Wayne is predeceased by his wife Emma Sue Cowden Hightower. He is survived by his daughter, Martha Carolyn Hightower Reyes and her husband, Richard R. Reyes; her daughter, Carolyn Virginia Griffith Bose and her husband Ryan Colby Bose; and her son, Robert Hightower Griffith; and his son, H.W. ("Buddy") Hightower and his wife Alisa Turley Hightower, and their son, H.W. ("Trey") Hightower, III. Wayne is also survived by his mother-in-law, Olive Carolyn Vick Cowden; his brother-in-law, James Coley Cowden and his wife Jeannie Tunstill Cowden; and numerous nieces, nephews, and other relatives.

Friends are cordially invited to greet the family during a reception from half-past eleven o’clock in the morning until two o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday, the 30th of June, at the Houston Country Club, 1 Potomac Drive in Houston.

Prior to the reception, the family will have gathered for a private interment at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.

For those desiring, memorial contributions in memory of Wayne Hightower may be made to the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston, c/o Betsy Frantz, 7000 Fannin Street, Suite 1200, Houston, TX, 77030; or to the charity of one’s choice.