Wilburn Hofheinz was born on February 22, 1918.  He died on October 13, 2018.  He is survived by his wife, Olive Marcelle Hofheinz, and their son, David James Hofheinz.  Wilburn and Olive were married on August 8, 1946.

My father, Wilburn Hofheinz, lived a life only someone intelligent, energetic, capable, and conscientious could live.  He attained a bachelor’s degree from Southwest Texas State Teachers College and a master’s degree in English from the University of Texas.  His career was spent in education.  He was an English teacher at Dickinson High School, then the principal of Dickinson Junior High, and later an administrator for the Dickinson Independent School District.

He was a photographer and a writer.  A number of his photo essays were published in the magazine section of the Houston Chronicle.  He took pictures and wrote essays for newsletters published by the Dickinson school district.

During one of his summers off, he built a house, aided only occasionally by a high school student.  It has perhaps occurred to you to think that Wilburn Hofheinz worked on construction sites as a young man or in some other way received training and instruction on which he drew to build a house. That is not the case.  Wilburn Hofheinz acquired, without training and instruction, the knowledge and the skills that enabled him to construct a house for him and his wife.

During World War II, Wilburn Hofheinz served in the Army Air Forces.  He spent most of the war at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas.  He was sent to the Philippines as the war ended.  Later, he was a member of the forces that occupied Japan.  He met and became friends with a man from Russia.  The Russian had access to a Jeep, and he and Wilburn went to various sites in Japan together.  Wilburn had the opportunity to try snow skiing, which he enjoyed a great deal.

During most summers off from work, Wilburn Hofheinz traveled.  Before I was born, he and Olive spent a summer in Mexico City and took courses at the University of Mexico.  They also spent a summer in Denver, where he took courses at the University of Colorado.

My father, my mother, and I took some memorable camping trips.  On one of them, we camped at Grand Tetons National Park and drove into Yellowstone on several days.

After my father retired, he and my mother took a trip to Europe and a trip to Hawaii.  He, my mother, and I took several trips with his sister, Arvena Baker.  Among those trips was one to Big Bend.  On that trip, my father and I took the Emory Peak Trail to the top of that mountain.  The alltrails.com website rates the trail difficult.  The website states, “This is a roundtrip hike to the highest point in Big Bend National Park (7,832′). The last 25 feet require a scramble up a sheer rock wall…  Most hikers require approximately 5-6 hours for the roundtrip journey.”  Wilburn Hofheinz was about 65 years old when he hiked the Emory Peak Trail.  He made the hike easily.  Until the last few months of his life, he had remarkable energy and vitality.  When he died he was 100; he was still driving at age 99.  The last years of driving involved loading walkers into the car and getting them out, which he proved able to do.

Wilburn Hofheinz was intelligent, energetic, capable, conscientious, an educator, a photographer, a writer, and a loving husband and parent.  My mother and I loved him, and we miss him.

A celebration of life service for Wilburn Hofheinz will be held at the Crowder Funeral Home in Dickinson on October 27, 2018. The service will begin at 3:30 PM.  Dress for the service is casual.