Robert Edward Pounds

Memorial services for Robert E. Pounds, 61, of Temple, TX will be at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday August 30 at Western Hills Church of Christ in Temple. Mr. Pounds died at his residence on August 27. He was born October 2, 1946 in Beaver, OK to Robert L. Pounds and Hazel (Pounds) Lockhart and was raised in Booker, TX. He married Rebecca Eggleston of El Paso in Nov, 1967. He proudly served in the US Army during the Vietnam War. He began a lifelong career in law enforcement in Amarillo as a police officer before hiring on with the Santa Fe Railroad in November, 1973, receiving a special commission as a Texas Ranger in 1982. He retired March 2007 as a Senior Special Agent for the BNSF Railway. Robert was a lifelong enthusiast of railroad history and was a member of numerous historical societies and museums including DeGolyer Library at SMU, Colorado Railway Museum, Temple Railway and Pioneer Museum, San Angelo Railway Museum, Western History Collection at Angelo State University, the Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling society, the National Association of Timetable Collectors and the West Texas Railway Historical Society. In 1984, he had a book published, "Santa Fe Depots, the Western Lines". He was an avid collector and noted historian of both the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway at the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, donating significantly from his collection to museums and universities. He was a member of the Western Hills Church of Christ. Robert is survived by his wife of over 40 years; four sons, Travis and wife April of Tomball, Marshall and wife Theodora of Houston, Robert and wife Kristy of San Marcos and Preston of Round Rock; two sisters, Judy Chizek of Chouteau, OK and Cynthia Vestal of Wichita Falls; and three grandchildren, McKenna and Jackson of Tomball, and Robert of Houston. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to the American Cancer Society or any of the aforementioned museums, societies or universities.