Tomás Tom C. Maldonado Jr.

TOMÁS CISNEROS MALDONADO, born March 23, 1918 in Brownsville, Texas, died April 20, 2012 in Houston, Texas. He will be missed by his ten children and the extended family of nieces and nephews whom he and his wife, Martha, welcomed into their home and into their hearts. He graduated from Saint Joseph’s High School, Brownsville in 1936. He began his formal education of chemistry at the University of Texas in 1938 until being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942. At Camp Siebert in Georgia he trained in and became a trainer in chemical warfare. He arrived in Naples in 1943 as First Sergeant and was discharged from the Army in 1945 as a Master Sergeant. He graduated from UT with a B.A. in Chemical Engineering in 1947 after studying under his special professor, Dr. John McKetta. He worked for a short time in Mexico City and by 1948 he and Martha were in Brownsville where he taught welding, refrigeration, and carpentry at Brownsville Junior College and English at St. Joseph’s. By 1951 Tomás was working in his chosen field as an analytical chemist for Carthage Hydrocol in Brownsville. His career in chemistry led him to work for Alcoa in Port Lavaca, Texas before settling in Houston in 1956. His specialty as a process chemical engineer was in fluid-bed catalytic cracking. His career led him to design oil refineries and chemical plants around the world. Companies he worked for included: Lummus Engineering, C.F. Braun, Fluor, Foster Wheeler, J.E. Sirrine, Crawford and Russell, Brown and Root and S&B Engineering. He designed or worked on most of the petrochemical plants in the Houston region as well in Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guatamala, and Singapore. His sugar mill and paper/pulp work took him around the US and Puerto Rico. He was an active member of his church from his earliest days. He was preceded in death by his wife, Martha Barthel Maldonado, his daughter Madeline Inez Contreras and his grandsons Clinton Arthur Maldonado and Brian David Welch. He is survived by his brothers Gil Maldonado (Minnie) and Leo Maldonado (Elizabeth) and his sister Oralia Teran (Homero); his children and their spouses: Tomás Carlos Maldonado (Jannie), Martha Rita Garcia (Hector), Desiderio Alfredo Maldonado (Judy), Marguerite Rose Moreno (Abraham), Ernesto Luis Maldonado (Mary Welch), Ricardo Fidel Maldonado (Mary Katherine), Eduardo Antonio Maldonado (Mattia), Maria Angelina Roder (David), Roberto Walter Maldonado (Gina) and Marcela Ruth Anghilante (Mark); his grandchildren, Priscilla Balmes (Steve), Bartolomeo Maldonado (Jillian), Desiderio Maldonado, Adam Joseph Maldonado (Sarah), Patton Carroll (Michelle), Mary Catharine Maxian (Michael), Christina Garcia, David Garcia (Katie), Captain Daron Moreno (Lindsey), Stephen Moreno (Lauren), Captain Adrian Moreno, Jim Welch, (Bonnie) Sean Welch, (Laura), Tiffany Maldonado, Jack Maldonado, Anthony Maldonado, Charlie Maldonado, Thomas Maldonado, Richard Contreras, Gloria Contreras, Christopher Contreras, Bobby Cavazos, Dominic Anghilante, Cory Anghilante, Brendan Anghilante, and his great-grandchildren, Jacob, Elijah, Noah, and Rosie Balmes, Grace, Faith, Michael Paul, and Victoria Maxian, John and Lilia Garcia, Sophia and Grant Welch. The family wants to thank his physician Dr. Ronald Galfione for his many years of wonderful care, Bruce Goodrich and his wonderful staff at Belmont Village, where Tomas lived the last three years of his life, and Thomas Moore and Jennifer Wells of Houston Hospice.

Visitation will be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. with evening prayers at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 23rd at Earthman’s Bellaire Chapel, 6700 Ferris, Bellaire, Texas. Funeral mass will be at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 6800 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, Texas, at 10:00 am on Tuesday, April 24th. Burial will follow at Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery, 12800 Westheimer Road. A reception after the burial will be announced at the funeral mass.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his name to the Madeline Contreras Scholarship Fund, Saint Agnes Academy, 9000 Bellaire Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77036.