Thomas William Bartlett

Thomas William Bartlett passed away on November 16, 2018. He was the youngest of four children born to Jesse James and Lucille Duncan Bartlett and entered the world in Rockdale, Texas on April 1, 1923. He graduated from Sharp High School and enrolled in Rice Institute on a baseball scholarship, dropping out in spring 1942 to enlist in Navy. After being discharged at the end of the war, he enrolled in Southwestern Louisiana Institute in Lafayette, Louisiana graduating in May 1949.

On August 20, 1949 he married SLI alumna Vivien Marie Talbot in Houma, Louisiana. They relocated to Houston, Texas in 1951 as he began a career with what became known as Tenneco, Inc. until his retirement in 1992 where he and Vivien reared four children. He excelled in many sports in high school, played baseball in college and professionally after college and was an accomplished golfer, recording five holes-in-one and shooting his age multiple times at Champions Golf Club. He was a member of the Southwest Football Officials Association for many years and a Director of the Bluebonnet Bowl Association. He was president of his fraternity and the student body in college and served as councilman and mayor of Hedwig Village and as Chairman of the Harris County Appraisal Review Board. He was also a Director of Cy-Champ Municipal Utility District. He was an active member of St. Cecilia and St. Ignatius Catholic Churches through his time in the greater Houston area.

He was preceded in death by his parents and three older siblings (Oleta, Mary and Paul) and is survived by his wife, his four children, Thomas William, Jr. (Susan Junker), John Paul, Elizabeth Ann (Doug DeSpain) and Alma Jane; his ten grandchildren, Hilary Ann, Thomas William III, Destiny Rae, Douglas Ray, Clare Marie, Joseph Talbot, Patrick Charles, Delaney Elizabeth, Sarah Elizabeth and Colette Vivienne; and his three great-grandchildren, Isiah Cole, Delilah Isabel and Hailey.

Family will receive friends on Friday, November 23, 2018 from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm with a rosary beginning at 6:00 pm at Waltrip Funeral Directors, 1415 Campbell Road, Houston, Texas 77055. Funeral mass will be at Saturday, November 24, 2018 at 10:30 am at St. Cecilia Catholic Church, 11720 Joan of Arc Drive, Houston, Texas 77024 with the graveside to follow at Memorial Oaks Cemetery.

If someone wishes to honor Tom’s life by making a charitable donation in his name, as a veteran whose older brother was KIA at Pearl Harbor and as a devout Roman Catholic he would appreciate a gift to the Fallen Warriors Memorial (fallen-warriorstexas.org) or the St. Vincent DePaul Society (svdphouston.org).