John Charles Bessant
John Charles Bessant, 80, passed away on October 27, 2022 at his home in Clear Lake, Houston, Texas. He was born on August 29, 1942 in Wichita, Kansas to Virginia Stone Bessant and John Clyde Bessant. John is survived by his companion Ann Dorris and many friends. He will be greatly missed.
He earned an Aerospace Engineering degree from Auburn University. John worked as an Engineer for the Boeing Company prior to arriving in Clear Lake to work for Singer on the Apollo Program. After Apollo, he moved to Washington DC and worked for John Hopkins on submarine development. Returning to Clear Lake, John worked for IBM Corp on the Space Shuttle Program. He loved to talk about his adventures working for IBM in Australia. John was passionate about his gold Cadillac convertible “Goldie”, baseball, movies, and any excuse for a road trip.
I’m really sorry to hear of John’s death. God bless him and his family.
Respectfully,
Jim Webb
Although he and my mother never married, John was my de facto stepfather for nearly thirty years. We will miss him. I wish my young son had had more time to get to know his Grandpa John.
John had a smile and was friendly to everyone. Since he loved movies, we could have argued about which was the greatest of all time: “Citizen Kane”, “Casablanca” or
“the Godfather”. I vote “Casablanca”. The world is less good now that he is gone.