Joel Salazar Wilman

He lived in Texas until age 2, when at that time, he was taken to El Cercado, NL Mexico with his mother to live. They lived in Mexico until he was 15, at which point, he and his mother moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. In May of 1950 he married Aurora Barrera, whom he said, just one day before passing, was 'the love of his life.' They had three children; Mary Esther, Norma Lee and Joel.

He attended Del Mar College's welding program at night and worked at the Gulf Compress during the day. He eventually earned his welding certificate and spent half of his career as a welder and the second half in Quality Control Inspection for Ohmstede Manufacturing. In his role as a QC inspector, he was responsible for multi-million dollar projects which required precise measurement and mathematics. He self educated himself in working knowledge of trigonometry using the instruction manual to a TI programmable calculator. Nights and weekends were spent helping his wife with Wilman's Catering. He was a brilliant man who always encouraged his children to educate themselves. He was a great teacher to his peers and always offered help when needed. He was a man who never knew a stranger. He would strike up a conversation everywhere he went and before he finished, he would know how many children they had and what kind of work they did. Our father loved to tell jokes. As soon as someone would tell a joke, he would surely be ready for the follow-up. Joel was a life long student, he loved to learn about new inventions, different cultures and history. He also enjoyed reading. He had a passion for any valued books. His philosophy concerning books was that if you only learned one topic from a particular book your investment in that book was justified. He was very proud of his grandchildren always offering inspirational advice as well as his usual jokes.

Joel is survived by his loving and devoted wife of 61 years, Aurora Wilman, his three children; Mary Esther Martinez (Geraldo), Norma Lee Martinez (John), Joel B. Wilman M.D., his Grandchildren; Brandon Martinez, Eric Martinez, Brian Martinez, Ryan Martinez, Celeste Martinez, and Lauren Wilman.

Visitation will be Thursday, February 10, 2011 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Funeraria del Angel and from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church with a holy rosary to be recited at 7:30 p.m.. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 1:00 p.m. Friday, February 11, 2011 at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Burial to follow at Rose Hill Memorial Park