Hubert F. Hawthorn Jr.

Born in Beaumont, Texas on the 11th of August 1940, Hub was the eldest son of Hubert Franklin Hawthorn and Josephine Vaughan Hawthorn. Hub was a graduate of Beaumont High School where he excelled in math and science before going on to Lamar College of Technology, now Lamar University, in Beaumont. Hub joined the Sigma Nu fraternity and served as its President, and he was also elected to the Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.

After graduation, Hub joined Price Waterhouse as a CPA in New York. Hub practiced as a CPA for over 50 years and was a proud member of the AICPA and TSCPA. It was in New York that Hub would be introduced by a mutual friend to Kay Roberts, whom he would go on to marry in Houston, Texas in 1968.

In 1967, Price Waterhouse moved Hub to Milan, Italy where he would serve for three years, with Kay joining after their wedding. Hub then moved to Houston with Price Waterhouse before leaving to join Telxon Corporation as President. Hub’s love of public accounting led him back to form Dillashaw Hawthorn & Co, PC with Harry Dillashaw and then ultimately to his own firm of Hubert Hawthorn, PC.

When his sons, Andrew and Jay, were in high school he told them they could choose any college to attend as long as they took an accounting course.

Hub was dedicated to stewardship in his community in many ways. He was proud to be Treasurer of the British American Club in Milan, Italy, served The Forest Club as President in 1987, served the University of St. Thomas in Houston for over 25 years, first as a member of the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Finance Committee and the Planned Giving Advisory Committee. Hub was a member of the Board of Directors and Chaired the Finance Committee at St. Dominic Village Catholic Retirement Community of Houston, and he served on the Board of Directors of the Broad Oaks Civic Association where he was Treasurer. Hub chaired the Annual Fund with Kay for Episcopal High School, organized the first Child Advocates Sporting Clays Shoot, and served for several years as Stage Manager for the Houston Junior Forum’s “Showtime” production where “Hubamania” was born. Hub was an expert urban gardener, committed to perfecting his fruits and vegetables. Guests to the home were frequently greeted with the perfect whiskey sour made only with home-grown Meyer lemons.

Hub and Kay were avid skeet and sporting clays shooters for over 20 years. Hub was extremely proud of the work he did to restore the Greater Houston Gun Club (now the Greater Houston Sports Club) to glory. In 1996, with just 21 interested members, he acquired the club and its land, acquired more land for expansion, formed a Board of Directors, served as President and as Treasurer, and led the expansion to include skeet, trap, sporting clays, 5-stand and FITASC. Today, the club serves more than 1,500 members and holds numerous nationally recognized tournaments, corporate and charity events each year.

Hub was generous and fortunate to be able to commit his time and resources to many important causes which touched his life and his faith. He was a firm believer in the benefits and accessibility of advanced education and committed to support talented and deserving students of the University of St. Thomas, Rice University, Lamar University, Incarnate Word Academy, and Episcopal High School.

Hub was a convert to the Catholic faith. Like everything he was involved in, he supported it wholeheartedly. Hub, with his family, was a member of St. Michael Catholic Church for more than 50 years. After their move to Austin, Texas, he and Kay were members of Emmaus Catholic Church in Lakeway, Texas. Hub was deeply honored to be a Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He considered his trips to the Holy Land the highlight and most treasured of his many world travels.

Hub is survived by his beloved wife of more than 55 years, Kay Roberts Hawthorn; his sons, Andrew Brian Hawthorn of Austin, and James Franklin Hawthorn and his wife, Catherine; and adored grandchildren, James Franklin Hawthorn, Jr. and Lillie Rubye Hawthorn of London, England. He is also survived by his brother, Joseph Columbus “Lum” Hawthorn and his wife Norma of Beaumont; sister, Emily Kate Hawthorn of San Antonio; and niece, Anne Hawthorn Newton, her husband Chris and their daughters; nephew Zachary Hawthorn, his wife Kara and their children.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family to be held from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 27th of November, in the Jasek Chapel and Grand Foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston, where a recitation of the Holy Rosary is to commence at half-past six o’clock.

The Mass of Christian Burial is to be offered at ten o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, the 28th of November, at St. Anne Catholic Church, 2140 Westheimer Road in Houston.

The Rite of Committal will immediately follow, via escorted cortege, at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial gifts in his name be directed to the Hawthorn Family Scholarship in Accounting through the Lamar University Foundation, PO Box 11500, Beaumont, Texas 77710 or through www.lamar.edu/give

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