James D. Whitlock Jr.

James D. Whitlock Jr., age 66, passed away November 6, 2009 in San Antonio, Texas. He was born on November 1, 1943 in Brownsville, Texas to James Sr. and Agnes Whitlock. He is survived by his wife, Myra Whitlock; daughter, Andrea Whitlock; granddaughter, Jamie Makusky; grandson, Tommy Makusky and many friends. A memorial service will be conducted at 10:00 A.M. Friday, November 13, 2009 at Sunset Northwest Funeral Home 6321 Bandera Road San Antonio, Texas.People called him different things: James, Jim, JD, Jimbo, SenatorJD, but to me he was always Jimmy. We met in 1967 when he was best man and I was maid of honor in our friends’ wedding. We began dating and got engaged in 1968, and then along came the big DN (Draft Notice). Jimmy made the decision that he would rather spend four years in the Navy than two years in the Army, possibly coming home in a pine box.He went to Great Lakes in Chicago for boot camp, and when he got out we were married on July 29, 1968. We got to spend two weeks together before he was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge and went straight to the Gulf of Tonkin, Viet Nam. His tour of duty there lasted nine months, and when he returned to Long Beach, I was there to meet him. In Long Beach, we met some very good Navy friends that we still keep in contact with. We spent about a year there when his ship got sent to Bremmerton, Washington, to be decommissioned and from there he was sent to the USS Kitty Hawk (affectionately known as the Kitty Kitty Bang Bang) home based in Coronado, California. Another tour to the Gulf came all too soon, and since I was pregnant, Jimmy brought me home to live with my parents in Helotes. Andrea was born in 1972 and was four months old before Jimmy saw her. One more trip to Coronado and then he was discharged from the Navy. We considered staying on the West coast, but since we both had elderly parents, we returned to Texas. About ten months later, Jimmy’s Dad died and we lived with his Mother for a year. Then in 1973 we bought a new house in Leon Valley and finally we had a place of our own. Jimmy put a lot of work and remodeling into the house and made it truly ours. He went back to work for SouthWest Research and I went back to teaching.The years passed all too quickly and before we knew it Andrea had graduated from John Marshall, from UTSA (summa cum laude), got married and along came Jamie and Tommy. I guess time does that to you. You think there’s always tomorrow to say the things you want to say, but when it sneaks up on you, it’s too late. His daughter was his Princess, his grandchildren were his Pride and Joy, and he was the love of my life.