Roll Call Tribute

Published in Houston Chronicle on May 5, 2018

John Heemann Sr.(1927 - 2018)
John A. Heemann Sr.
1927-2018
John Alan Heemann, 90, passed away on Saturday 4/28/18 after a brief illness. He was born November 20, 1927 in Fort Worth, Texas to Julia Canterberry and Arthur Heemann. Growing up in Fort Worth he worked multiple jobs through high school to save up enough money to attend college. After high school he started classes at Texas A&M University on June 6th 1944, D-Day. This class would later become known as the D-Day Class.
Attending classes year-round made him eligible to enter his senior year by September of 1946, still shy of his 19th birthday. He served as Artillery Regimental Commander in the Corps and head waiter in the Mess Hall. He was a four- year letterman on the swim team and center forward on the water-polo team, a team lost only once in 4 years. He was a member of A&M's Southwest Conference Champion Swim team of 1945 and when the swim team's only diver left school, he taught himself how to dive and became the team's principal diver. Upon graduation he was awarded two engineering degrees, one in petroleum engineering and the other mechanical engineering.
Upon graduation he received an appointment as 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Army (Artillery). He served his country as both an Army officer and Air Force officer where he attained a final rank of Captain. After his service he went to work for Exxon where he spent seventeen years before opening a consulting practice in oil & gas and helping to found HETCO O&G Corp where he served as President for twenty years. He was an accomplished tennis player and golfer, loved to work with his hands and was an accomplished woodworker, and coached youth baseball, football and hockey.
He is proceeded in death by his first wife Martha, his brother Howard and sister in law Julia, sister Judy and numerous classmates, tennis partners, and favorite golf foursomes. He is survived by his longtime partner, Marcelle Henry, brother in law Jack Berry, daughter Pam O'Leary and husband Pat and their three children Chris, Jamie and Kerry, son John Heemann Jr and wife Leslie and their four children Colt and wife Emily and his first great grandchild Cash, Lacy, Luke, and Seth. John was a proud American, a proud Aggie, and will be truly missed by those of us left behind.