John Robinson Locke, Jr.

John Robinson Locke, Jr. (Jack), son of John Robinson Locke and Grace Walker Locke was born in San Antonio, Texas on August 2, 1924. He died on Friday, September 25, 2020 at the age of 96. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Betty Sue Stacy Locke, his wife Suzanne Harris Locke, his sister Grace Locke Harvey and her husband Bart of Baltimore, and his beloved grandson John Robinson Locke IV. Jack is survived by his four sons and their wives: Jack III and Carol, Carey and Heather of Corpus Christi, Stacy and Aimee, and Philip and Mary Stephanie. His grandchildren also survive Jack: Grace, Stacy, Hannah, Christian, Denys and his fiancee Rachel, Peyton, Parker, Patience, and Walker.

Jack had a special admiration, respect and fondness for his parents. He relished his time with them growing up and took every opportunity throughout his life to be with them and have his children share time with them. As his boys were growing up, his family would meet his parents at the Toddle House for breakfast, and then drive to McMullen County to chase blue quail all day and have a picnic lunch by the Nueces River. In 1964, Jack and his parents purchased property on the Frio River near Leakey. Jack and the entire family cherished the weekends of hunting, fishing, swimming and sitting in front of the fireplace. This was a truly remarkable period for his family.

Jack attended the San Antonio Academy, graduated from Texas Military Institute, class of 1942, and attended Woodberry Forest Preparatory School of Woodberry Forest, Virginia in 1943. He enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin in 1943 and attended until the fall of 1943, when he volunteered for pilot training in the U.S. Army Air Force. Jack’s pilot training took him through primary, basic and advanced training in planes that included the B-17, B-25 and the B-29 in preparation for transfer to the Pacific Theatre of Operations and the air war on Japan. Fortunately, the war ended in 1945 and Jack retired from active duty with his wings and second lieutenant bars.

Jack re-entered the University of Texas at Austin in 1945, going directly into the University of Texas School of Law, from which he graduated in 1948. Upon graduation, Jack first practiced law as an United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas. In 1950, he joined his father’s law firm Kelso, Locke & King, which later became Groce, Locke & Hebdon. Jack always claimed he had the good fortune of working with some of the finest people in the legal profession. He also took great pride in his years of representing Frost Bank.

Jack served on the Board of Directors of Cullen Frost and was a member of numerous civic and social organizations. Of particular enjoyment for him was driving the King’s barge for many years in the Texas Cavaliers River Parade. Also, Jack really enjoyed the fellowship and interesting topics at the Conopus Club lunch meetings, and his opportunity to serve as the Club’s President in 1961. For serving as President, Jack was gifted a Sako .243 rifle with a Leupold scope, which he cherished for many years of hunting.

Jack and Betty Sue Stacy were married in 1951. They led a very active athletic and social life, and enjoyed their numerous weekend hunting trips with friends. They played tennis regularly, including breaking all norms by playing tennis on their wedding day. Jack focused on golf, following a leg injury while quail hunting. He played into his mid-90’s and managed to “shoot his age” on a few occasions, scoring eight strokes under his age at 93. He and Betty Sue enjoyed many summer trips with their children to La Jolla and Port Aransas, and Jack took annual scuba diving and fishing trips with his sons to Florida, Mexico, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. It became a family tradition to take trips with the Grace Locke Harvey family every other Christmas to Bermuda, Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean where they could play golf, tennis, swim, and dive. Jack enjoyed a very special relationship with Grace’s children: Grace, Bart, Jack and Rosie, from Baltimore and New York, and their spouses and children. After Betty Sue’s death in 2008, Jack married Suzanne Harris, a longtime friend whose husband had also passed away. Jack and Suzanne had known each other for years, took trips together as couples and were always very fond of one another. Suzanne and Jack enjoyed several years of traveling, golf, fishing and visits to her house in Santa Fe before her death in 2012. Jack developed a special closeness to Suzanne’s daughter Susan Negley and her family.

Jack was an avid outdoorsman with the utmost appreciation for nature in all respects. He had a great love for hunting and fly fishing, which was engendered by his father when he began taking his son at an early age on camping trips to hunt and fish. Jack began teaming up with his friends Bill and Alfred Negley, Frates Seeligson and others in the late 1950’s to take fly fishing trips to Mexico, Panama and later on to Alaska. In the 1960’s, Bill Negley introduced Jack to fly fishing for redfish on the Port Aransas flats - a novel way to fish for reds in those days.

In Jack’s pursuit of his quarry, whether it was dove, quail, deer or a variety of fish species, he approached it respectfully, cognizant of the life he had taken and never harvested in excess. In addition, Jack handicapped himself in order to give the greatest advantage to the quarry. For bird hunting, throughout his life, he used a Winchester .410 Model 42 pump shotgun. In the early days of pursuing redfish on the flats in Port Aransas, Jack would be found with his Orvis Superfine 6’ Bamboo Fly Rod. He caught redfish, trout, bonefish, permit and mangrove snapper when fishing saltwater; and perch and bass when fishing at the Blue Wing or Frio River in fresh water.

Later, Rupert Gresham, George Kampmann, Jim Vynalek and some of Jack’s sons and one of his grandsons began fly fishing in Port Aransas. Ultimately, this led to chasing other fish species in Iceland, Christmas Island, and all throughout the Bahamas. Jack and Rupert also began regular trout fishing trips in Colorado and Wyoming with Rupert’s cousin, Joan Kelleher.

In Jack’s final years he had the great fortune of reconnecting with Jane Drought. Jane was, in Jack’s words, his third wife in all respects except for the ceremony. The joy that Jane brought Jack could be captured if one witnessed them sitting together reading, talking or having a cocktail before dinner on the porch of Jane’s family property known as Droughtfels in Comfort. There was always a breeze blowing across the porch, which is perched on a hill overlooking the Guadalupe River valley. You could not find two happier people. Jack and Jane were inseparable, spending time together in Port Aransas, Leakey, Droughtfels and San Antonio alone or with their respective families. Jack developed a great fondness for all of Jane’s children, their spouses and even her grandchildren. Jane will always be part of the Locke family.

The family would like to express its appreciation to Cora Turner and Suzanne Shive for years of dedicated service managing the Locke family offices; and to Jack’s doctor, Scott Campbell, his primary caregiver, Marisela Quiroz, and to his daughter-in-law, Aimee Locke, for her unyielding attention and care over the past few years.

Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Texas Cavaliers Charitable Foundation, 1250 NE Loop 410, Suite 234, San Antonio, TX 78209; or Christ Episcopal Church, 510 Belknap Place, San Antonio, TX 78212.