Dennis Michael Klekar

Dennis Michael Anthony Klekar passed away May 2, 2020. Dennis was born in Shiner, Texas on April 9, 1949. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Emily Klekar of Shiner, Texas. He is survived by his wife, Melissa McKinley; his daughter Pamela Burns and grand-daughter Nicole Burns; his son Todd Klekar and daughter-in-law Elizabeth Klekar; his son Taylor Klekar, his brother Victor Novak and sister-in-law Margie Novak; his sister Andrea Lasseter and brother-in-law Gene Lasseter; brother-in-law Tim McKinley and nieces and nephews Mary Beth and Shane Wagner, John Paul and Tammy Novak, Heather Lasseter, Graham Lasseter, Grant McKinley and great nieces and great nephews Faith Wagner, Christian Wagner, John Novak and Makenna Novak as well as many cousins, aunts and uncles.

Dennis graduated from Shiner High School in 1967 and then obtained his bachelor’s of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Dennis lived in Missouri City for many years with his first wife while working at jobs at Wide Light and Tuboscope. He began work at NASA in 1983. He moved to League City when he married his second wife Melissa.

Dennis worked at NASA at Johnson Space Center for 33 years. In that job, he showed his talents as a mechanical engineer. He contributed to upgrades to the center’s infrastructure in construction and maintenance and made many impacts on the efficiency of the operations. He was selected as the Energy Manager and built a program to reduce energy usage in response to agency and government wide mandates. He was a champion of the energy savings performance contracting effort and was named a Pathfinder by the Department of Energy. He was a branch chief and lead a team of engineers and contractors to maintain the site’s mall area buildings. He finished his career as a mentor to others to share his great knowledge.

Dennis enjoyed watching football and other sports. His teams were the Longhorns and the Dallas Cowboys. He was an excellent artist who drew detailed pen and ink drawings as well as oils. He loved doing very intricate models of planes, rockets, ships and tanks. He loved to travel and to collect rocks. Dennis always had a joke or a funny story to share. He was at his best when entertaining friends and family.

Dennis suffered with Parkinson’s and Lewy Body Dementia in the last part of his life. He struggled with the mental and physical impacts. But he always thought that he would get better and worked to make that happen. He was tested positive for COVID-19 and although he did test negative, it was too much for even his strong will to live.

A memorial service will be held Forest Park East at 2 PM, Thursday, May 7, 2020. He wanted to be cremated so there will not be a graveside service. A short reception will be held at the funeral home after the service.