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Roll Call Tribute
James Hluchanek '71 September 14, 2003 12:00 AM
Funeral
services for James Andrew Hluchanek, 24, of Weimar, victim of a roadside
shooting Wednesday evening, September 8, in Colorado, were held Monday
morning, September 10, at Hubbard funeral Chapel and St. Michael's
Catholic Church here, with burial in the church cemetery http://www.rootsweb.com/%7eusgenweb/tx/colorado/stmichaelcem.htm.
Rev. Thomas O'Callaghan of San Antonio, former assistant pastor here, officiated, assisted by Rev. O. B. Kahlich.
Pallbearers were Gene Kloesel, Johnny Rerich, Jr., Joe Ulrich, Zigmund Streich, Kim Stavinoha and Wayne Bartos. Named as honorary pallbearers were all his other friends.
James was born here February 3, 1949, the son of Jim and Elsie (Rerich) Hluchanek, and was a 1967 honor graduate of Weimar High School. In high school he was a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Council. He won Who's Who and other distinctions, served in various offices, and was football trainer for two years.
He entered Texas A&M University on an Opportunity Award Scholarship and was graduated with honors in 1971 among a class of 1,511 students, with a Bachelor of Science degree in geophysics. He also earned the university's Faculty Achievement Award and the Gulf Fellowship awarded annually to an outstanding graduating student.
As student assistant to one of his professors, Dr. R. R. Unterbeger, he participated in pioneering with a radar method of determining the geologic structure of salt mines. The device perfected and employed by Dr. Unterberger with James' help was effective up a mile distance. Their work with it drew national and international attention.
Together, they worked with it in a mine underneath Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio, two places in Canada, including a mine under Lake Huron, at Grand Saline, Texas and just last spring, in Louisiana.
"He was not only an outstanding student," Dr. Unterberger told the Mercury; "he was also a great fellow to know and be with. He was an extremely capable youth, with a great future."
As an undergraduate at A&M, James had been vice-president of the school's Geophysical Society chapter. He began as a sophomore collecting data with which he wrote his thesis for his Master of Science degree in physics in 1973. The title was "Radar Investigation of the Hockley Salt Dome." Next month Dr. Unterberger is to deliver a paper on that same subject to an international gathering of geophysicists in Mexico.
Surviving James in addition to his parents are a sister, Mrs. Stan (Gloria) Armstrong of Dallas; a brother, Pat of Weimar; his grandmothers, Mrs. Elizabeth Hluchanek and Mrs. Emilia Rerich of Weimar; and a niece and a nephew, Carrie and Mitchell Armstrong.
The Weimar Mercury, Thursday, September 13, 1973
Texan Charged in Hluchanek Death
One of Weimar's most promising young men was found shot to death in a roadside park near the Colorado-Wyoming border last Wednesday evening, and another Texas was charged Monday with the first-degree murder in connection with the case.
Dead is James A. Hluchanek, 24-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Jim Hluchanek of Weimar, with whom he had been visiting only a few hours before a motoring couple found him dead in his car.
He had been shot "several times," according to a UPI story in the Denver Post, perhaps eight times according to some reports that have filtered back here.
Arrest at Pueblo
The case was a complete mystery for two days, during which one suspect was checked out and released, but a break came Friday when a Garland, Texas man was arrested in Pueblo, Colorado on a federal charge filed at Dallas in an unrelated case.
Monday, Weld County (Colo.) District Attorney bob Miller filed a charge of first-degree murder against Jerry Ben Ulmer, 21, of Garland.
Up to Tuesday the district attorney had not disclosed exactly how Ulmer had become a suspect in the Hluchanek case, but the Pueblo arrest was on a charge (filed in Dallas) of making false statement in acquiring a firearm.
Motive a Mystery
The DA also has not released a statement as to the motive in the case, which remained a mystery here late Tuesday.
Ulmer was not known to Hluchanek's family here nor to any of his many friends they have questioned.
Hluchanek's wallet was found in his lap, $103 cash and several hundred dollars in traveler checks still in it. With him in the car were his clothing bag, portable tape recorder and guitar.
Apparently nothing had been taken, with the possible exception of some credit cards.
In New Job
An honor student throughout his school days here and at Texas A&M University, where he had earned his Bachelor and Master degrees in geophysics, he had begun a promising job with Gulf Oil Co. of Bakersfield, Calif., in June and was on loan to Petty Ray Geophysical Co. for some special work at Casper, Wyoming.
He had flown home on Saturday before Labor Day, leaving his new car at the Denver airport after driving the 100-plus miles from Casper.
He had spent an enjoyable weekend with his parents and with friends who had also come for the long weekend holiday and the annual local celebration.
Outstanding Student
Tuesday he paid a visit at College Station to his teacher and friend of several years, Dr. R. R. Unterberger, with whom he had worked on an exciting project, a new way of determining salt-mine geology with the use of radar. James had helped develop the technique, and it was the basis of his Master's degree thesis. Next week in Mexico city, Dr. Unterberger is to deliver a paper to the international meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists on the work he and James, as his student assistant, did in the Hockley (Tex.) Salt Mines.
Wednesday, James father drove him to the airport, and his plane left for Denver at 10:30 a.m., to arrive in Denver about two hours later.
Word Came
Thursday At 4:30 a.m. Thursday a phone call from the police at Greely, Colorado, brought the tragic news to the Hluchaneks.
A motoring couple had found him dead in his car at the roadside park on Interstate 24, about 90 miles north of Denver and two miles from the Wyoming border, in a remote and unpopulated section. The coroner estimated the time of his death at between 3 and 5 p.m. The time he was found by the couple was unknown here, but it was believed to have been not later that about 9. the delay in getting word to the family may have been due to a question of jurisdiction in the case, the location being almost on the state border line.
The little mysteries nag, but they're overshadowed by the big question. Why?
The Weimar Mercury, Thursday, September 13, 1973
Transcription by Dennis Boatright
Rev. Thomas O'Callaghan of San Antonio, former assistant pastor here, officiated, assisted by Rev. O. B. Kahlich.
Pallbearers were Gene Kloesel, Johnny Rerich, Jr., Joe Ulrich, Zigmund Streich, Kim Stavinoha and Wayne Bartos. Named as honorary pallbearers were all his other friends.
James was born here February 3, 1949, the son of Jim and Elsie (Rerich) Hluchanek, and was a 1967 honor graduate of Weimar High School. In high school he was a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Council. He won Who's Who and other distinctions, served in various offices, and was football trainer for two years.
He entered Texas A&M University on an Opportunity Award Scholarship and was graduated with honors in 1971 among a class of 1,511 students, with a Bachelor of Science degree in geophysics. He also earned the university's Faculty Achievement Award and the Gulf Fellowship awarded annually to an outstanding graduating student.
As student assistant to one of his professors, Dr. R. R. Unterbeger, he participated in pioneering with a radar method of determining the geologic structure of salt mines. The device perfected and employed by Dr. Unterberger with James' help was effective up a mile distance. Their work with it drew national and international attention.
Together, they worked with it in a mine underneath Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio, two places in Canada, including a mine under Lake Huron, at Grand Saline, Texas and just last spring, in Louisiana.
"He was not only an outstanding student," Dr. Unterberger told the Mercury; "he was also a great fellow to know and be with. He was an extremely capable youth, with a great future."
As an undergraduate at A&M, James had been vice-president of the school's Geophysical Society chapter. He began as a sophomore collecting data with which he wrote his thesis for his Master of Science degree in physics in 1973. The title was "Radar Investigation of the Hockley Salt Dome." Next month Dr. Unterberger is to deliver a paper on that same subject to an international gathering of geophysicists in Mexico.
Surviving James in addition to his parents are a sister, Mrs. Stan (Gloria) Armstrong of Dallas; a brother, Pat of Weimar; his grandmothers, Mrs. Elizabeth Hluchanek and Mrs. Emilia Rerich of Weimar; and a niece and a nephew, Carrie and Mitchell Armstrong.
The Weimar Mercury, Thursday, September 13, 1973
Texan Charged in Hluchanek Death
One of Weimar's most promising young men was found shot to death in a roadside park near the Colorado-Wyoming border last Wednesday evening, and another Texas was charged Monday with the first-degree murder in connection with the case.
Dead is James A. Hluchanek, 24-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Jim Hluchanek of Weimar, with whom he had been visiting only a few hours before a motoring couple found him dead in his car.
He had been shot "several times," according to a UPI story in the Denver Post, perhaps eight times according to some reports that have filtered back here.
Arrest at Pueblo
The case was a complete mystery for two days, during which one suspect was checked out and released, but a break came Friday when a Garland, Texas man was arrested in Pueblo, Colorado on a federal charge filed at Dallas in an unrelated case.
Monday, Weld County (Colo.) District Attorney bob Miller filed a charge of first-degree murder against Jerry Ben Ulmer, 21, of Garland.
Up to Tuesday the district attorney had not disclosed exactly how Ulmer had become a suspect in the Hluchanek case, but the Pueblo arrest was on a charge (filed in Dallas) of making false statement in acquiring a firearm.
Motive a Mystery
The DA also has not released a statement as to the motive in the case, which remained a mystery here late Tuesday.
Ulmer was not known to Hluchanek's family here nor to any of his many friends they have questioned.
Hluchanek's wallet was found in his lap, $103 cash and several hundred dollars in traveler checks still in it. With him in the car were his clothing bag, portable tape recorder and guitar.
Apparently nothing had been taken, with the possible exception of some credit cards.
In New Job
An honor student throughout his school days here and at Texas A&M University, where he had earned his Bachelor and Master degrees in geophysics, he had begun a promising job with Gulf Oil Co. of Bakersfield, Calif., in June and was on loan to Petty Ray Geophysical Co. for some special work at Casper, Wyoming.
He had flown home on Saturday before Labor Day, leaving his new car at the Denver airport after driving the 100-plus miles from Casper.
He had spent an enjoyable weekend with his parents and with friends who had also come for the long weekend holiday and the annual local celebration.
Outstanding Student
Tuesday he paid a visit at College Station to his teacher and friend of several years, Dr. R. R. Unterberger, with whom he had worked on an exciting project, a new way of determining salt-mine geology with the use of radar. James had helped develop the technique, and it was the basis of his Master's degree thesis. Next week in Mexico city, Dr. Unterberger is to deliver a paper to the international meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists on the work he and James, as his student assistant, did in the Hockley (Tex.) Salt Mines.
Wednesday, James father drove him to the airport, and his plane left for Denver at 10:30 a.m., to arrive in Denver about two hours later.
Word Came
Thursday At 4:30 a.m. Thursday a phone call from the police at Greely, Colorado, brought the tragic news to the Hluchaneks.
A motoring couple had found him dead in his car at the roadside park on Interstate 24, about 90 miles north of Denver and two miles from the Wyoming border, in a remote and unpopulated section. The coroner estimated the time of his death at between 3 and 5 p.m. The time he was found by the couple was unknown here, but it was believed to have been not later that about 9. the delay in getting word to the family may have been due to a question of jurisdiction in the case, the location being almost on the state border line.
The little mysteries nag, but they're overshadowed by the big question. Why?
The Weimar Mercury, Thursday, September 13, 1973
Transcription by Dennis Boatright
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