Robert Bob Paul Mcfarland

Robert Paul “Bob” McFarland, born in Eastland, Texas January 2, 1922, was the oldest of six children born to Paul and Verna McFarland. Along with his brothers Roland (Bud), Jone, and William, and sisters Peggy and Jerry, he grew up in the roaring ‘20s and the Great Depression. He caught frogs in Lake Leon, tended to the “…world’s greatest cow”, worked with the Gorman Peanut Growers Association, and joined the Army and went to war in the ‘40s. After the war he became a proud Texas Longhorn Engineer of the class of 1950. He was a child of the crank telephone and the Model T Ford and, as an adult, went on to build factories and skyscrapers and even a rocket sled as part of the Robert E. McKee Company. He engineered DFW Airport, Texas Instrument plants world-wide, and the old First National Bank building in Dallas…at the time, the tallest building west of the Mississippi!

Along with his sister, Peggy, he was a devoted fan of Longhorn and Cowboy football, and somewhere along the way he became a consummate story teller. He told his stories with a dry wit and an Eastland accent and it was not unusual to find yourself rolling on the floor at the end. He moved to Alpine, Texas in 1998 and became “Granddad” to a number of Alpine kids that he entertained with his stories and a fresh baked cookie (or twelve!) after school.

Granddad’s honorary pallbearers are Kim D. Brown, David M. Cook, Raymond Espinoza, Paul Garcia, Franz Hassenflu, Forrest Hendryx, John O. Hollis, Bill C. Ivey, William J. Paynter, Claire Pratt, Rick Ruiz, Lee Ann Tate, and Robert Tyree.

Graveside services will be held at Sparkman Hillcrest Funeral Home and Cemetery, 7405 West Northwest Highway, Dallas, on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 12:00 Noon (Phone 214-363-5401). Memorials may also be made to the University of Texas School of Engineering or the Rice University School of Engineering.

He was preceded in the journey into eternity by his siblings and his wife Myra Jo. He will be missed by his daughter, Carla, her life partner John Green, and his two grandchildren, Robert and Michelle Williamson. And by all of us that loved his stories. Farewell…Heidi is waiting with a bark and a ball…you can both run again, now!

Arrangements under the direction of Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home, Dallas, TX.