Milton Henry Valigura, 80 of Conroe, Texas, was called home by the Lord on Tuesday afternoon June 4, 2012, after a lengthy illness. He was the youngest child of Josef and Mary Valigura who had immigrated to America from Czechoslovakia in 1913 and settled in Dime Box, Texas. He is preceded in death by his wife of 46 years, Shirlene York Valigura; his parents, a sister Valasta Krenek, and his brothers Joseph Valigura and his wife “Dick”, Jerry Valigura, Aldoph Valigura and Alvin Valigura. He is survived by a sister-in-law Alvin Valigura’s wife Dorothy Valigura. He is survived by his eldest son Keith Wayne Valigura; two grandchildren, Alex (Tere) Cash and her partner Jennifer and Josef Martin Valigura; and one great-grandchild Ethan Cash as well as numerous nephews, nieces, great nephews and nieces and their children. A host of extended family of friends both old and new also mourns his passage, particularly his trusted friend and care provider Lucien Roman.
Milton was raised on a farm in Dime Box, Texas beginning in the Depression. Life became harder on him and his family when his father Josef was lost to influenza six months after his birth. As he grew older his chores around the farm also grew. As the older brothers began their own lives, Milton was just starting school where one of his classes was English as most of the kids in Dime Box first spoke Czech or German. As with any farm kid, he was working in the morning, riding a mule (and later his pet Brahma bull, Poison) to school only to return in the afternoon and begin his work anew. He studied his books during the evening. Near the end of the Depression the family had to butcher Poison, so that the families could eat. World War II further separated the family leaving Milton and Adolf to help work a smaller plot of land because his mother, Mary, had to sell the farm. Despite the hard times, he was entering the 9th grade during the War. The teacher could not teach higher math to the handful of students at the one-room school and turned the job over to Milton. He would go on to graduate as Valdictorian at Dime Box High School.
In 1949, he entered the United States Air Force, trained at Lackland Air Base in San Antonio. During the Korean Conflict he was held stateside and assigned to teach jet mechanics in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was disappointed and had hoped to go overseas, like his older brother, Joseph, who fought in the Pacific Theater a few years earlier, to fight in Korea. He married Shirlene York while still at Shepard Air Force base in 1952, finished he enlistment time and enrolled under the G.I.Bill at Texas A&M College (TAMU). Near the end of his junior year, he and Shirlene had Keith in 1957. Milton would graduate, land a job with Phillips in Corpus Christi, Texas, and eventual move to Pasadena, Texas, where, in 1959, their second son was born, Bruce. In 1962, Milton took a position with Jefferson Chemical Company in Conroe, Texas, where he retired as Texaco and Huntsman merged in the 90’s.
Milton was still speaking Czech a few weeks before his passage.
Pallbearers: Bob Williams, Dan Wilson, Tom Valigura, Zachary Valigura, T.J. Krenek, Lucien Roman Mickey Edmondson, and Kid Schiller. Honorary Pallbearers are Milton’s numerous friends and the employees with whom he had worked at Jefferson Chemical/Texaco over the years.
Services for Milton Valigura are scheduled for Monday, June 11, 2012 at 3:00 p.m. at Cashner Funeral Home with Internment to follow immediately at Garden Park Cemetery. The family will receive visitors at Cashner Funeral Home on Sunday, June 10, 2012 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. You are invited to leave a written condolence to the family at www.cashnerconroe.com
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