John A Whitacre Jr.

John Aubrey “Pawpaw” Whitacre, Jr., 93, was born on December 1, 1922 in Stephenville, Texas and passed away on March 15, 2016 in El Paso, Texas. John was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. He earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University (’45). He served in the Army Air Corp. flying B-24 bombers in Italy in 1945. Before going overseas he married Louise Latham, his high school sweetheart. John taught at Texas A&M, worked for Dow Chemical in Freeport Texas, and eventually moved to El Paso to teach at Texas Western College. For almost 30 years anyone graduating from the School of Engineering had to get through “Prof Whitacre’s Thermodynamics I & II” classes. It was not easy. John grew up playing tennis, basketball and football, but his life-sport was golf. He knew he was getting old when his scratch handicap grew into the single digits and his drives exceeded his eyesight.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Louise, brother, Jim Whitacre, and sister, Lavern Parish. He is survived by his daughter, Sara O’ Connor and husband Dennis, his son John Allen Whitacre (J.) and wife Sandy; grandchildren Bret Whitacre, Daniel O’ Connor and wife Courtney, Cassie, and Dustin O’ Connor, and Molly Engles and husband Ben. Pawpaw had great grandchildren Jaden and Brady Engles and Aidan, Lauren, and Arrabella O’ Connor.

Pawpaw enjoyed playing the piano his whole life. He especially liked hymns, gospels, ragtime, big band, and marches. He didn’t talk about his war experiences much, but he talked about A&M and how the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band never lost a halftime.

We thank the caregivers that helped him along the way at the Good Samaritan White Acres campus and at Adam MC Care Foster Home. We all loved PawPaw and the way his dry humor could make us laugh.

Graveside Service will be held Monday, March 21, 2016 at 9:00 AM at Ft. Bliss National Cemetery.