William Russell Gammel

Bill grew up in Baytown with his brother, Cliff and his parents. His hobbies were hunting, fishing, basketball, and spending time with his friends. He graduated from Lee High School, received a bachelor’s of science in wildlife and fisheries from Texas A&M, and a master’s degree in Biology from Southwest Texas State University.

Bill was known for being an avid duck hunter, fisherman, and world-renowned fly casting instructor. He and his dad wrote a how-to booklet called, “The Essentials of Fly Casting", and then he made an instructional film called “Teaching Yourself to Fly Cast.” He won the U.S. Federation of Fly Fisher’s Colliander Cup two years in a row, an award given to the federation’s top caster. He designed and oversaw the development of the Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Center as well.

Bill met his wife, Tiffany, on a blind date in January of 1997 and they were married on November 21st, 1998. They had their oldest son, J.W., in 2002. A few years later he began his career at Lee College, where he was a professor of Biology up until the time he passed away. They then had Cliff in 2005 and John in 2010.

Later in life, he really enjoyed watching and supporting his sons in school, baseball or whatever they were pursuing at the time. Most importantly, Bill was a very strong Christian, and was passionate about evangelism. He was a member of Second Baytown Church, where he co-lead a bible study for young adults, volunteered in the youth ministry teaching the seniors a Christian apologetics class, and was recently nominated to serve as a deacon starting later this year. In 2015, he wrote a book called, “A Sportsman’s Pursuit” which is a collection of short stories about hunting and fishing from his life that all point back to the Gospel. He will forever be remembered as a loving husband, father, son, teacher, and friend.

He was preceded in death by his father, J.W.; and brother, Cliff. He is survived by his wife, Tiffany; mother, Jean; sons and daughter-in-law, J.W., Chloe, Cliff, and John; brother and sister-in-law, Dwyane and Jill Huckaby; brother and sister-in-law, Buck and Hali Hollister; nieces and nephew, Maddy, Abby, and Jackson; cousins, Laura Bowman, Nancy Horvath, Wendy Langhorne and Jean Langhorne; and extended family and friends.

Visitation will be held at Second Baytown Church, 6227 North Main St, Baytown, TX 77521 on Saturday, June 13th at ten a.m. with the Funeral Service following at eleven a.m.

Serving as Pallbearers will be Brandon Buell, Roger Harp, Todd Cauley, Keith Botkin, J.W. Gammel, Cliff Gammel and John Gammel.

In lieu of flowers, donations will be made to the Second Baytown Church building fund.