Jack Pickens Kraft

Jack Pickens Kraft, 87, passed away at The Plaza at the Buckingham in Houston, Texas on Thursday, the 21st of April, 2016. Born on the 8th of July, 1928 in Baytown, Texas to August and Martha Kraft, Jack attended Robert E. Lee High School and Rice University. He married Beverly Kemp of Houston, Texas on the 25th of June, 1952 and they raised their three daughters in Houston.

The oldest of four children, Jack was the quarterback of his high school football team, the Goose Creek Ganders, and was “the tall man” on the basketball team. He played football his freshman year of college, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University.

At Rice, Jack was a member of the Naval ROTC. Upon graduation, he entered the United States Air Force and was stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Working on the first delta wing designs, he used one of the earliest computers at MIT.

He enjoyed many years of tennis with his friends at the Memorial Forest Club and the Houston Racquet Club.

After working for years in steel building construction and large steel forging, Jack was project manager for Gilbane Construction and was a key participant on a number of significant projects, including the George R. Brown Convention Center, in Houston, the Moody Gardens, in Galveston, and the urban renewal project for downtown San Antonio. He retired from Gilbane at the age of 75.

Predeceased by his loving wife of 62 years, Beverly Kemp Kraft, and his sister, Connie Murphy, Jack is survived by his three daughters and their husbands, Diane and John Mott of Scottsdale, Arizona, Martha and Glenn Markwort of St. Louis, Missouri and Jennifer and Gary Donnan of Houston, Texas, eight grandchildren, Jack (Kat), David (Virginia) and Katherine Mott, Ross (Amy) and Beverly Markwort, and Will, Emily and Rob Donnan, three great grandchildren, George and Annie Markwort and Theodore Mott, his brother, Charles Kraft and his wife Doris, his sister, Mary Ann Kraft, and eleven nieces and nephews.

Those honored to serve as pall bearers during Monday’s service are Charles Kraft, John Mott, Glenn Markwort, Gary Donnan, Lowry Kraft, Jack Mott, Ross Markwort, David Mott, William Donnan, and Robert Donnan.

The family would like to express their gratitude to the staff of Colonial Oaks Westchase, the Plaza at the Buckingham, both memory care and skilled nursing, for their dedicated care of our father.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from four o’clock in the afternoon until six o’clock in the evening on Sunday, the 24th of April, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

The funeral service is to be conducted at eleven o’clock in the morning on Monday, the 25th of April, in the Chapel of Chapelwood United Methodist Church, where the Rev. Wick Stuckey is to officiate.

The interment will follow, via an escorted cortege, at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests that donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 6055 S Loop E, Houston, TX 77087.