William Heaton Brandes

Bill, age 89, was born on December 3, 1936 to William Conrad Brandes and Marjorie Heaton Brandes in Oak Park, Illinois and passed away on September 15, 2026, in Irving, Texas. In 1943, the family moved from the Chicago area to Dallas. Bill grew up in the Casa Linda area until they moved to Teague, Texas for two years and then to Irving. During those growing up years, he was influenced by the detailed and meticulous ways of both of his parents. His father was a professional electrical engineer and one of the pioneers of the traffic engineering profession. His mother was very entrepreneurial, especially for the time period. She had her own business selling Christmas cards and client gifts and later became a real estate agent.

Bill attended The University of Texas in Austin and graduated in June 1959 with a BS in Architectural Engineering and went to work for J. W. Bateson Co. Inc., a large nationwide general contractor headquartered in Dallas (he had worked for them the last two summers while in college). He was assigned to a construction project in Marquette, Michigan and then later in China Lake, California. In 1962, he joined the U.S. Army, had active duty for six months, and then completed five years of service with U. S. Army Reserves. While in the Reserves, he rejoined Bateson in their estimating department and was quickly assigned to a project in Columbus, Ohio; however, during a very short time in Dallas in 1963, he was introduced to the love of his life, Karen Ann Hancock. Karen, also from Dallas, had grown weary of the Dallas scene and was planning to go to California with a friend. She had two years of college and was working when the west coast life beckoned, and she couldn’t be bothered … California was calling.

“All right … she agreed to get to know me. Fate had stepped in.” He moved to Columbus while she got ready for the wedding, and about four months after they met, they were married in Dallas and started life together in Columbus. Their honeymoon was a slow drive from Dallas, through the Ozarks and Smoky Mountains, to Columbus. After three and a-half years of moving two more times (Fayetteville, NC and in Washington, D.C), they were able to come back to the Dallas area in 1966 and settled in Irving for the remainder of a long life of 52 wonderful years together. Two great kids and four wonderful grandkids, and a history of a million shared memories to treasure forever.

During the next thirteen years, he worked on various projects for Bateson as an Estimator, Project Manager and Contract Manager. Projects included Texas Stadium in Irving, the original American Airlines Terminal 3E at D/FW Airport, and the Braniff Airways Corporate Headquarters at the airport. His work at Texas Stadium was probably the most interesting and rewarding of his career and included the initial development of the basic seating layout and sight lines for the stadium, even before the stadium architect was hired. He continued to be involved on the stadium project throughout the design and construction phases, through completion.

Bill and Karen were always involved with real estate, buying and fixing up houses. In 1979, he left Bateson and joined Karen in her real estate brokerage business in Irving. However, in 1982 his construction background and passion overcame his interest in real estate, and he joined another large Dallas general contractor, the Clark-Morris Company. Inc, which was part of the Clark Construction Group out of Bethesda, Maryland. He worked for them for ten years as a Project Executive and Vice President.

Then in 1996, after four years of managing their rental properties and doing construction management consulting, he had the opportunity to “return to his roots, so to speak”, as Resident Construction Manager for The University of Texas System in the North Texas area. He was the Owner’s Designated Representative on numerous construction projects on the three UT System campuses in the DFW area and the two in Tyler. He retired from UT System in 2004, but after a required month-long leave of absence, returned to work for UT part time until 2012, and then resumed full-time work with UT. He finally retired again from UT System in 2017. But after that, he remained active in construction consulting for another two plus years, ending up with a 60-year career in construction management and real estate. Bill always wanted to be doing something constructive (no pun intended), and retirement just did not seem to fill that need. During his contractor working years, he was involved with industry trade associations, including the Associated Builders and Contractors and the Associated General Contractors. He also served as President of the Irving Texas Exes chapter.

During their 52 years of marriage, Bill and Karen enjoyed many family activities that included boating, fishing, water skiing, snow skiing, golf, traveling around the country and going on cruises. He liked to write Letters to the Editor of the Dallas Morning News, which makes this final script special, i.e., knowing it will be printed without edits.

Years after the death of Karen, friends introduced him to Charlotte Hoffman. Charlotte & Bill’s relationship quickly blossomed, and Charlotte became an integral part of the Brandes family, creating more wonderful memories.

He was a member of Highland Park United Methodist Church, which is also where he and Karen were married and where both of their children were married. He was preceded in death by his wife Karen (5/29/2016) and is survived by a daughter Kimberly Ann Verrett and husband Dave of The Woodlands, Texas, a son William Hancock Brandes and wife Tisha of Flower Mound, Texas, and grandchildren Paul Verrett, Ann Verrett, Katelyn Brandes and William Brandes. Burial will be a private graveside service at Sparkman-Hillcrest, with a memorial service and reception at Highland Park United Methodist Church, Cox Chapel, at 10:00 on Friday, September 25, 2026. In lieu of flowers, donations to your favorite charity would be appreciated.