Hugo Richard Sindelar, Jr.

WWII Navy Air Corps veteran Hugo R. Sindelar, Jr. embarked January 25th on his final mission to join the love of his life, Jeanne, and touch the face of God. Born on March 29, 1927 on a farm outside Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Hugo Sindelar and Adeline Lopata Sindelar, he is survived by his six children, 12 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren. His first grandchild, Cristie, gave him his later-life nickname of “Bumpa.”

While his father worked in town at the Collins Radio plant, Hugo and his two siblings, Marilyn and Arno, performed most of the chores around the farm, including milking the dairy cows. After losing a $10 bet with his father about how much milk the best cow could produce (in the middle of the Great Depression, as a pre-teen, a big chunk of his savings from chores), he swore off gambling for life. After a bout with white lightning behind the barn as a teenager, he became a teetotaler. His teetotaling, however, offered the opportunity for him to renew playing poker while in the Navy; usually, as the night wore on and his companions became ever more under the influence, he soberly cleaned out his mates. His sense of humor was legendary, as was the distance to and depth of snow drifts he claimed to have had to maneuver through, to walk to school as a child.

A lover of rocks and all things geological, he earned a degree in Geophysics from Iowa State University and joined Shell Oil in Houston in 1951 as a member of its seismic crews exploring for oil in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. He lived with his family in a number of small Texas and Oklahoma towns and New Orleans, finally settling in Houston in 1966, when he joined then-Geophysical Services Inc. as a seismologist working with the “TOG” (Texas Offshore Group) and later offshore oil exploration projects in Trinidad-Tobago, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia, among other nations.

A devout Catholic, he and Jeanne were founding parishioners of St. Thomas More Parish, where he was a Knight of Columbus, Eucharistic Minister, and a tireless worker in the Kairos prison ministry. He and Jeanne were instrumental in establishing the parish’s Perpetual Adoration in the chapel, and religiously served their hour at 3:00-4:00 a.m. and substituted often in the wee hours for others. Bumpa also served as an acolyte at morning Masses, and both he and Jeanne served as sponsors in the RCIA program (Right of Christian Initiation for Adults). As Deacon John Krugh remarked, “he was always there” helping in the parish.

He loved golf and was never happier than when he was beating his sons and grandsons on his favorite Sharpstown course, which he did with regularity despite their best efforts! He was also an aficionado of bridge, joining several bridge groups over the years and earning Masters points. Late in life, he really enjoyed becoming an off-road and beach Jeep adventurer with his family, on trips organized by the family’s Jeep enthusiasts--his son Joe and grandson Michael.

A family-only funeral Mass will be held at 8:00 a.m. February 3rd at St. Thomas More Parish. The service will be live-streamed for interested friends and family, through the St. Thomas More website at www.stmhouston.org. A graveside service for family at the Houston National Cemetery, where he will join his beloved wife Jeanne, will follow. A memorial celebration for all will be held at a later date.

He and Jeanne believed fervently in a Catholic education, so in lieu of flowers his family suggests a donation in his and Jeanne’s name to his children’s alma maters--Strake Jesuit, St. Agnes Academy, St. Thomas High School, and St. Thomas More Parish School—or an educational institution of your choice.