Roll Call Tribute

Victor William Slowik 
February 14, 1967 - May 5, 2023

Victor William Slowik, 56, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Burleson, Texas, on May 5th, 2023.

Victor was born on February 14th, 1967 to Viktor Adalbert Slowik and Rosario Lozano Slowik in El Paso, TX. After graduating from Coronado High School in 1985, he chose to pursue his
studies at Texas A&M University, where he earned his degree in Agricultural Engineering
in May of 1991. While at A&M, Victor joined the student-led Corps of Cadets in appreciation of the structure and discipline it provided. Later, Victor also completed 40 hours of graduate
coursework at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was inducted into Phi
Kappa Phi Graduate Honor Society with a 4.0 grade point average. Victor maintained a longtime membership with ASDSO (Association of State Dam Safety Officials) and was proud to be a Licensed Professional Engineer in Oklahoma beginning in 2007.

Victor started his engineering career with Soil Conservation Service (which later became NRCS in 1994) at the Clinton, Oklahoma, Area Office in 1991 – he lived the life of a true and dedicated civil engineer and civil servant. His primary duties were to observe the Resource Engineers and to assist them as directed. He traveled with the engineers and helped them conduct surveys, prepare designs, conduct quality reviews of completed practices, and provided training to field office staff.

Next, he served the Clinton field office as Resource Engineer from 1991 – 1993. He learned
how to plan, design, and stake standard conservation practices. He assisted the technician with construction inspection and learned to compute quantities and review the designs and
computations of others.

Victor was transferred to the Woodward Area Office and served as Resource Engineer from
1993 – 1995. He was assigned to five field offices and was responsible for all engineering activity. He conducted quality reviews of engineering practices, provided training on engineering policy and design standards and practice, reviewed designs exceeding the designer's engineering approval authority, and designed larger or more complex practices that exceeded the capabilities of the field staff. He also provided training in the use of the electronic total station to field staff as they collected surveys within the Woodward area.

Victor served as a Design Engineer in the Oklahoma Design Section, at the Oklahoma State
Office Stillwater between 1996 – 2009. He had several duties including evaluating sites and
preparing engineering reports, preparing designs for a variety of repairs, preparing designs for new dam sites, preparing designs for rehabilitation of existing sites, and preparing stream restoration designs using principles of fluvial geomorphology. He was a first adopter of many restoration techniques and freely shared his lessons learned.

Between 2009 and 2016 he served as Multi-State Design Engineer (MSDE). He provided design support services to Kansas and Nebraska NRCS and supported design activities in Oklahoma. He served as the CADD contact for Oklahoma and aided Kansas and Nebraska as needed. He served on a team preparing national policy and guidance for LiDAR data usage. He freely shared his knowledge with anyone who asked.

Victor's last position was as the supervisory team leader for the NRCS Soil Mechanics Lab in Fort Worth Texas. He oversaw a team that conducted various tests and prepared reports with results, interpretations, and recommendations as appropriate for the planned construction. He was committed to his position and gave it his all, despite declining health in the last few months.

Throughout Victor's engineering career, he actively looked for daily learning and development opportunities to improve his own skills. He enjoyed providing mentoring and leadership to countless other engineers and technicians. Victor took his responsibilities as a Professional Engineer very seriously and ensured he was always a committed representative of the engineering community. He valued the conservation mission of the agency as well as the ethos of a humble civil servant. His work made the world a better place and he will be greatly missed by his many friends and colleagues.

While Vic dedicated much of his time to his work he mostly appreciated the simplest things in life, like walking his beloved dog Raquel and socializing with his friends and neighbors. Due to the nature of his work he had friends all over the country and was known for reaching out and catching up for hours at a time. Lastly, he never forgot his family and would not hesitate to help out in time of need.

Victor is survived by his mother, Rosario L. Slowik and brother, Paul Slowik; he is preceded in death by his father, Viktor A. Slowik.

Friends are invited to celebrate Vic's life on Monday, May 15th, at St. Francis of Assisi Parish
on 5750 Doniphan Dr, El Paso, TX 79932, where a Rosary Service will be held at 10:00 a.m.,
followed by a Funeral Mass at 11:00 a.m. and reception at noon. Victor's remains will be
cremated and interred at Memory Gardens of the Valley in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. If
desired, friends may make memorial contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, at spca.org. 

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers for Victor and the Slowik family.