Gary W. Purser Sr.

Gary died on July 28, 2011.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, John Helen; his son, Gary Purser Jr. (“Bubba”) and his wife, JoAnn; his daughter Elizabeth Tipton and her husband Rell; his daughter Sue van Zanten and her husband Walter, along with seven grandchildren, Cristina, Meredith, Ben, Park, Nathan, Emily and Adriana. He is also survived by his brother, James Purser, and several nieces and nephews.

Gary lived all of his adult life in Killeen. He served as an MP at Fort Hood from 1953 to 1955. He began his construction career in 1955 as a homebuilder founding Purser Construction Co. and later, Chafin and Purser. Along with many other area landmarks, Gary built the Killeen Public Library, Killeen City Hall, the library at Central Texas College and the Extraco Bank building in Harker Heights. During his career, Gary developed over 20 residential subdivisions throughout the Killeen/Harker Heights area. Although Gary was not the general contractor, he was most proud of his participation in the building of the new First United Methodist Church of Killeen, which was completed in April of 2011.

Gary was very involved in the community, serving as a Killeen City Council Member in 1962 and from 2000 to 2003. He donated land for numerous public projects, including a fire station in Killeen and a 32 acre park in Harker Heights. Gary received the Roy J. Smith Award in 2007 in recognition for lifelong contributions to improving the Central Texas area.

Visitation with the family will take place at Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home on Sunday, July 31st from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The service for the celebration of Gary’s life will take place at the First United Methodist Church in Killeen on Monday, August 1st at 2:30 pm. Burial will be at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery on Tuesday, August 2nd at 9:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, charitable donations can be made to the First United Methodist Church of Killeen building fund.