Charles Joseph Worrel

Charles J. Worrel was born October 11, 1919 and died on Monday, September 4, 2006. Charlie Worrel spent his early years in Houston, graduated from San Jacinto High School and entered the University of Texas in Austin in 1938 where he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.

At San Jacinto High, he met Eva May Kinzbach who would become his wife on March 25, 1942. He left the University in January 1940 to join the United States Navy. He was a Flight Instructor at the Dallas Naval Air Station for two years before he was sent to the Pacific Theatre of Operations. He served as a member of the Commander Air Support Control Amphibious Operations COMASCU under Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, Commander Amphibious Forces Pacific, during the invasions of Palau, Iwo Jima and Okinawa islands.

The COMASCU staff had just completed plans for the invasion of Japan when the atomic era brought World War II to an end. He left the active duty with the rank of Lieutenant Commander but stayed in the reserves for eight more years.

In September 1945, he returned to Austin to complete a degree in Geology. In September 1947, he accepted a position with the Stanolind Oil and Gas Company as an Exploration Geologist. In 1951, he went to work for Deep Rock Oil Company and began his association with Maurice E. Bud Forney. In September 1954, they created Forney and Worrel, Consulting Geologists, a partnership that lasted twenty-eight years.

Mr. Worrel served as President of the Texas Section of the American Institute of Professional Geologists and served as President, Treasurer and Executive Committee member of the South Texas Geological Society.

He is survived by his wife, Eva May Kinzbach Worrel; his children, Eva Kay Cotter, Charles J. Worrel III, John R.'Dick' Worrel, M.D. and Elizabeth Ann Worrel. He is also survived by his grand children, Phillip S. Kline III, Christopher Brice Kline, Charles J. Worrel IV, Daniel A. Worrel, M.D., Ethan H. Worrel, Samuel Gelber, Margot Gelber, John Wyatt Worrel, Mariana Elizabeth Worrel; and great grandchildren, John R. Worrel, Charles J. Worrel V, Emily Elizabeth Worrel and to be born this week Katherine Worrel.