Ted Stewart

Ted was born on July 30, 1947, in Las Cruces, New Mexico to Josephine Alexander Stewart and Kenneth Kinkade Stewart. After graduating from New Mexico A&M, Kenneth moved his young family to West Texas where he was stationed at Midland Air Field. Ted was four months old when he first called Odessa home and always considered himself a Texan. Ted thrived as an athlete in football, baseball, track and field. Growing up in Odessa, he was a member of the Latin Club and first developed his love for art and music. He attended Permian High School and Odessa Junior College where he won the National Junior College Championship in discus.

In 1967, Ted received a full athletic scholarship to attend The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa for track and field. To broaden his accomplishments, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Biology. While in college, on a blind date, Ted met his future wife, Suzanne "Suzy" Miller, a student of LSU. Shortly after they both graduated from their respective and rival Universities, they married and Ted moved his new bride back to Odessa, Texas. They spent the next 16 years growing a successful construction business, establishing life-long friendships and starting a family. During this time, Ted earned his pilots license and flew regularly for business and pleasure. Also during the early 1980s, Ted owned his first sailboat. His passion for sailing took his young family on their inaugural voyage on Lake Amistad, and later on his second sailboat, the Ceo Na Mara (Mist of the Sea), to the Caribbean Islands and across the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1986, Ted moved his family to Austin, Texas. There he expanded his construction enterprises across the world and thrived as an international businessman and entrepreneur. There are countless individuals for whom Ted felt immense love, gratitude and appreciation. His businesses included Armadillo Boring Co., Great Plains Water Supply, Capitan Enterprises, Hobas Pipe, Capitol Trencher and Key Enterprises. Through Ted's work endeavors he traveled the world and built infrastructure from Texas to downtown Manhattan, Spain, Morocco, Central America and numerous other countries.

His success in the construction business allowed him to pursue real estate ventures, philanthropic undertakings and many other entrepreneurial opportunities. He was instrumental in the development of property in and around Central Texas. He loved the Hill Country as much as he loved the open water. For the past 20 years he has lived on Cypress Creek and fought passionately for the rights of Texas land owners. He considered himself a conservationist and was not shy about expressing his thoughts on property rights. His development work can be seen in many towns across Texas: Odessa, Fort Davis, Fredericksburg, Bee Cave, Cypress Mill, Dripping Springs, Mason and Austin.

For years, Ted supported the Boy Scouts of America, the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association, the Texas Heart Institute, DKR Foundation and the Texas Commission on the Arts. Like everything in Ted's life, his involvement with these organizations went far beyond normal participation. He hosted many fund raisers and picking parties at his ranch and was passionate about helping those in need. In the past year, Ted was most proud of his work with Heart Gift where he talked about his own change of heart because of the special work it does for children who would not otherwise have a chance. To say that Ted was passionate about song writing would be a gross understatement. He was known to stay up all night with his song writing friends in support of whatever the cause.

Over the past several years, with Twisted X Brewing Company, Ted again displayed his passion for new ventures by investing and becoming involved. He was tireless in his efforts to help build another successful venture in Dripping Springs.

Ted was a hardworking renaissance man who loved the challenge and conquest of a new idea as much as he loved spending time with his family outdoors, hiking, flying, arrowhead hunting, sailing, fishing, bird watching, and studying all the wonders of God's earth. He was a true lover of all the arts; Ted was particularly fascinated by all genres of music, poetry and stories of song writers. He was also a great adventurer known to chase down a class 5 river rapid, sail across vast expanses of seas, ski over cliffs, wreck dune buggies in the Sand Hills, walk away from plane crashes and even partake in an occasional bar room brawl for kicks. He refused to take his children to visit Disneyland but he did send them to sail across the Atlantic Ocean with pirates.

He will be greatly missed by all who were fortunate enough to know him.

Missing him most are Suzanne "Suzy" Miller Stewart, his wife of 45 years, their four children, Joseph Kinkade "Kade" (Allison) Stewart, Jamison Lee Stewart and Julianna Sloan (Brad) Tinney, Hunter Ted (Megan) Stewart, and; sister Susan (David) Scherra brother Gary Lane (Vicki) Stewart; grandchildren Abigail Elleen Stewart, Harrison Lee Stewart, Emma Joyce Stewart, Madeline Michele Stewart, Amelia Faith Stewart, Townsend Payton Tinney, Theodore "Teddy" Moss Tinney, Miller Hayes Tinney, Baker Kinkade Tinney, Lila Sloan Stewart and one on the way.

Services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, December 22nd at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church, 7127 Bee Cave Rd, Austin.

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers memorials may be sent to: Heart Gift

[www.heartgift.org] and Texas Heart Institute [www.texasheart.org]