John Gene Carver

John Gene Carver, 85, of Plano, died Thursday October 28, at home. He chose to be cremated and stay with his wife, Brenda, to be later buried with her. As per his wishes, there will be no memorial service at this time.

Mr. Carver was born October 12, 1936, in Gorman, Texas, to Arlie Madison Carver and Willie Virginia Hall. He served in the Naval Reserves from 1954 until being honorably discharged in 1962. He was married to Brenda Genell Dyer at the First Baptist Church of Denison on December 7, 1963.

John attended elementary and junior high school in Ranger before his family moved to Tyler where he graduated from Tyler High in 1954. He then attended Southern Methodist University where he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity and graduated in 1960 with a BS in Civil Engineering. John enjoyed playing sports growing up. He played defensive end for Ranger and Tyler football teams and joined the swimming and bowling intramural teams while at SMU. John also began working at an early age. At 11 he delivered papers for the Ranger Daily Times, and at 14 he worked at the Piggly Wiggly his father managed. The next summer he opened his own Gulf Service Station. After moving to Tyler in 1952, John began umpiring baseball games and working for C J White, a local Civil Engineer. Mr. White became an important figure to John, ultimately influencing him to attend SMU and become a Civil Engineer himself. After graduation John was employed by the Katy Railroad in Denison as Assistant Bridge Engineer. After obtaining his Texas Professional Engineering license, John accepted a position as head of the Structural Engineering Department for Davis & Associates, Consulting Engineers, in Dallas. By April 1970, John and Brenda decided to settle in Plano, so John opened his own Consulting Engineering business in Dallas, which he operated until September 2019. In addition to operating a profitable engineering practice, he also began buying, selling, and leasing residential and commercial properties and still found time to write five books, publishing and marketing four of them. John loved problem solving and meeting the challenges of engineering and managing properties.

John grew up Southern Baptist and was a faithful member of the First Baptist Church in Plano. He regularly attended both the Ranger High and Tyler High reunions and kept in close contact with many Ranger, Tyler, and Kappa Sigma/SMU friends. John had an excellent memory and loved telling stories of his childhood and early adult years. He enjoyed coaching his son John’s baseball teams, and helping coach and attending the games of his grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Don Carver, and his sister Lin Rushing.

He is survived by his wife, two children, daughter Renee and husband Rejean Plante of Plano, son John M Carver and wife Erica of Lucas, and four grandchildren, William Baker of Florida, Evelyn Baker of Chicago, Caroline Carver of Lucas, and Leah Baker of Austin.

Memorials may be made to the SPCA and Dallas Life charities.