William Daniel Fields Lynch

1924 – 2019

William Daniel Fields Lynch, 94, passed away peacefully on Wednesday afternoon, March 6, 2019, at his home in Richmond, Texas.

Bill was born in Sugar Land, TX on August 19, 1924, the fourth child of the late Don Lawson and Lily Eugenia Lynch. While growing up in Houston, he and his family struggled to survive the depths of the Great Depression. His father, a former Texas Ranger, was reduced to digging ditches for the WPA in order to earn food stamps. A young Bill also labored very hard for the family by daily delivering the Houston Post newspaper and selling fruit at a fruit stand. In 1943 at the age of 18, he graduated from San Jacinto High School and soon found himself drafted into the Army Air Force. Trained as a machine gunner and a flight mechanic, Private Lynch spent the entirety of World War II stationed at various bases around the United States. After the war, with money from the G.I. Bill, he studied agriculture at Texas A & I University in Kingsville, TX, and finished his degree in 1950. Not thrilled with his job options in agriculture, Bill returned to Houston and found employment in the oil industry. He purchased some land and began building a home, and he soon decided it was time to find “a spouse for the house”. Through the help of a mutual friend, Bill was introduced to a beautiful young nursing student named Alice Matejcek. They quickly fell in love, and six months later were married on June 12, 1954. Eventually they had “three healthy 8 lbs. boys”. Stephen was born in 1957, Ronald came next in 1959, and finally Daniel arrived in 1966. Bill was a well-liked person with a talkative and outgoing personality. He loved to dance, compete in western horse riding competitions, run in the Senior Olympics, work in the yard, and watch sports on TV. For 35 years Bill worked in the oil business, gradually becoming a chemist for Dresser Industries before retiring in 1987. Not one to sit around, Bill started using some of his early agricultural training and ended up working another 15 years as a salesman for Wolfe Nursery and later Cornelius Nurseries. In 1994 Bill returned to Richmond, TX, where he and Alice built their retirement home, and where they lived for the remainder of their lives.

Bill is survived by his three sons and their wives, Stephen (Jan), Ronald, and Daniel (Corrie) Lynch; his four grandchildren, Audry (Austin) Skidmore, Noah (Katelyn), Victoria, and Kevin Lynch; and his one great-grandson, Sebastian Skidmore.

He also leaves behind five sisters-in-law and four brothers-in-law, Chris Lynch of Glenwood Springs, CO, Julia Spitzenberger of Lexington, TX, Emil Pampell of Richmond, TX, Joe and Mary Matejcek of Gonzales, TX, Robert and Terry Matejcek of Giddings, TX, and William and Emma Matejcek of Giddings, TX, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.