Roll Call Tribute

Published in Houston Chronicle on July 18, 2016

William Crist
William Britton Crist
1931-2016
William Britton Crist was born on March 8, 1931, in San Antonio to Viola Eggeling and Guy Raymond Crist. He died peacefully in Houston on July 16, 2016.
Raised in Baytown by his parents and his beloved grandparents Lillian and Arthur Greene, he graduated from Texas A&M in the class of 1952, his attendance interrupted by a tour of duty in Korea. In this, he fit his family's long tradition of service to country: Boer War (grandfather), World War I (father), World War II (brother), Iraq (grandson). With degrees in business and electrical engineering, he worked for Phillips Petroleum, Brown & Root, Houston-Stafford Electric, and MSF Electric, and established his own companies—Century Steel, Lion Electric, and Crist & Associates. He was a gifted teacher who founded and chaired the electrical technology department and sponsored veterans' and international students' clubs at San Jacinto College. He taught countless men and women preparing to take journeyman and master electrician license exams, and mentored many young people in Sea Scouts and at Seaborne Challenge Academy in Galveston.
Bill was devoted to and proud of his family and was passionate about learning, reading, dancing, canoeing, sailing, cars, flying, and building World War I-era airplanes. He was for many years a member of Goose Creek Lodge No. 1192, A. F. & A. M. (Baytown), the Houston Yacht Club, and First Presbyterian Church, where he served as head usher.
He is survived by his wife Lynda, son Britt, daughter Nancy Welch, daughter-in-law Pauline Ward, son-in-law John Welch, and grandchildren Joseph Crist, Audrey Welch Tate and her husband Glen, and Ian Welch, also by his sister Glenda Engert and the mother of his children, Mary Fielder. His brother Raymond predeceased him.
The family is grateful for his longtime physicians Jorge Garcia-Gregory and Benjamin Interiano, the staffs of St. Luke's Hospital and Garden Terrace, Dave Butz and his superb team at Belmont Village, and Houston Hospice.
If so desired, please consider donations in his memory to the Sterling C. Evans Library, the Student Counseling Service, or the Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets Association, all affiliated with Texas A&M University.
A memorial service to give thanks for Bill's life will take place in August.