Roll Call Tribute

Restland Funeral Home and Cemetery obituary
13005 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, TX 75243
469.925.1436

Harry John Auvermann
Birth Date: November 13, 1927 Death Date: November 17, 2019

Harry John Auvermann, 92, died 17 November 2019 in Dallas, TX.

Harry was born on 13 November 1927 in Elizabeth, NJ, to Arthur and Freida (Wolf) Auvermann, the youngest of three children. Calla Smith Auvermann, a brave Texas pioneer-woman, entered the children’s lives in 1931, their loving and much-loved stepmother. Harry was a graduate of Rawlins High School in Rawlins, WY, and of Texas A&M University, where he studied Electrical Engineering and was a member of the Corps of Cadets and the Ross Volunteers, obtaining his BS degree in 1948. He fulfilled his active duty military service as a Radio Relay Officer in the U.S Army Signal Corps, 7th Infantry Division Signal Company, at Camp Crawford, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. While he subsequently obtained additional degrees in Physics from the University of Texas, Harry was a maroon-blooded Aggie at heart, attending as many Class of ’48 and Sul Ross Group reunions as possible for more than 65 years.

He wed Marilyn Coffman on 4 July 1957 in Brady, Texas. The couple’s married life began in Dallas, where their three children were born. Harry and Marilyn were married for 58 years.

Harry’s 50+ year career was spent primarily in defense-related research in lasers, optics, turbulence, and acoustics. He retired in 2001 after 20 years of service at the US Army Research Laboratory in White Sands Missile Range, NM and Adelphi, MD, and returned to Dallas.

He was fond of tennis, skiing, bridge, and solitaire, and loved to work in his shop, which he set up in the garage of every house he ever lived in as an adult. He was of playful disposition and great personal integrity; he loved to laugh at his own and others’ jokes and puns; he had a keen sense of the ridiculous; he was always willing to try to explain some difficult mathematical or scientific concept to his children when they asked, even when they weren’t really old enough to understand it; he was unmatched at inventing reasonable-sounding answers to questions he didn’t know anything about.

Harry was baptized into our Lord Jesus Christ while a student at A&M and was a member of the Church of Christ for the rest of his life. He was a serious Bible student and served as Deacon and Elder in various congregations.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Marilyn, his brother Arthur Auvermann, Jr., and beloved son-in-law Mike Batzle. He is survived by his sister, Emeline Bailey (husband Richard); by his children, Lisa Batzle, Andrea Hills (husband Steven), and Brent Auvermann (wife Jennifer); by grandchildren Catherine Clark (husband Ryan), Sam Auvermann, Silas Auvermann, and Isaac Auvermann; by his first great-grandchild, Nolan Clark; by step-grandson Colin Hills; by five nieces and nephews and their children; and by many long-time friends. He will be dearly missed.

The Auvermann family wishes to thank Dr. Ranier Khetan, Dr. Alan Martin, Dr. Gregory Hodges, Presbyterian Village North, and the T. Boone Pickens Center, for caring so sympathetically, so generously, and so conscientiously, for Harry in the last years of his life. May the LORD bless you out of Zion!

A private burial service was held shortly after Harry’s death; a Memorial Service is scheduled for 1:30 PM on Saturday, 25 January 2020, in The Rev. Blair and Cyndy Monie Chapel at Presbyterian Village North, 8600 Skyline Drive, Dallas, TX, 75243, to be followed immediately by a reception in the Corrigan Hall Library, a few yards away from the chapel.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The 12th Man Foundation, to the Presbyterian Village North Foundation, or to the T. Boone Pickens Hospice and Palliative Care Center.


Memorial Service

January 25, 2020 1:30 pm
Presbyterian North Village
8600 Skyline Drive Dallas TX, 75243