Herbert Wickel

Herbert Jerry Wickel, age 81, of the Carmine area moved to his heavenly home on August 22, 2024 after several lengthy illnesses, including diabetes, congestive heart failure and finally, cancer. He fought the good fight for many years with several hospitalizations and rehabs. At the end he was more than ready to meet his Lord.

Jerry grew up in La Porte, TX, and was a multitalented, charming, funny, and very creative man. As a young person, he developed interests in building kits for model trains, remote control airplanes and boats (he loved to look through the kits at Hovey's, a general store in LP), astronomy (he had a wonderful telescope, which he loved observing the night skies with), music (he played several instruments and sang beautifully), photography (photographing and developing the images), and bee keeping (his neighbor, a gentle elderly man, gave Jer a colony of bees). He modified the family rowboat into a sailboat and then proceeded to sail from Sylvan Beach to an island in the ship channel. Unfortunately for him, the wind died down when he wanted to return, so when he did finally get home, he had the mother of all sunburns!

In the summer between Jer's junior and senior year at LPHS, he was accepted to participate in a summer science program sponsored by the National Science Foundation, to be held in Edinberg, TX at Pan American University. The program was aimed at an in-dept study of Astro-Sciences (Astronomy, astro-physics, rocketry, satellite tracking, etc.). The group of 30 select students were in Jer's words, "sharp as tacks." He wrote in his autobiography that the students and profs climbed a mountain (in central Mexico) where an observatory was to be constructed. He wrote that "there is little that can adequately describe the view of the heavens from the top of a 12,000' mountain...awesome!" He said you could see the Southern Cross from there, and at that altitude, you could tell the red stars from the blue, orange and green ones. After the students returned back to the university, they built a rocket about 4' long with a parachute return and fired it off. It did all right... rose 3400' in the air and they were able to retrieve the rocket. Not so lucky the next time as the students decided if one rocket engine did that well, then, why not put on two. One minor glitch, he wrote, the second stage rocket didn't fire until it was pointed back down. In a cloud of dust, it impacted about 10' from the launch with no identifiable parts left to pick up. He said he was glad no one was hurt, although there was a lot of frantic running around.

As a student in the LPISD, Jerry just kept on learning and expanding his horizons. He played in both the school band and in a little dance band, where the group played in area events. In the school band, he played alto sax, tenor sax, and finally, tuba in his senior year, simply because the band director, Henry Einfeldt, needed tubists, as all tuba players had graduated the previous school year. So Jer (and two other sax players turned tubists) had to learn the tuba quickly to be able to play for football/marching season. He said what they lacked in note accuracy, they excelled in showmanship, moving left and right, up and down while playing on the field! He loved it!

In Jer's senior year, he would eat lunch with a group of kids who all enjoyed his funny one-liners and loved to tease him (especially a friendly girl who became his future wife). He excelled in his studies and was well-liked. He was elected President of the Honor Society, President of the Science Club, and graduated with honors as Salutatorian.

After graduation, he attended Sam Houston University, where he played in the Sam Houston Bearkat Band, and between classes, homework, and band activities, fell in love with his future wife, Jolene. Jerry proposed to Jo that December and he decided to go ahead and join the US Air Force, rather than wait to be drafted, with the extra motivation of having an income when he and Jo got married the next August.

While in the USAF, Jer & Jo lived in Fort Worth, where Jer served in the Crypto Unit at Carswell AFB. Their son, William Jeremy, was born in the base hospital (at the huge cost of $8.73) on early June, 1964... A sad note here: On November 23, 1963, President Kennedy and wife, Jackie, traveled through FW in a cavalcade on a highway very close to Jer & Jo's home, so J&J were able to see JFK & Jackie just a couple of hours before that presidential era ended with tragedy. It was terribly sad and Jo remembers being glued to the TV and weeping all weekend.

Jer was honorably discharged from the USAF in March 1966, where he already had a wonderful job waiting for him at IBM as a field engineer. He had already gone through the interviews and taken the "weeding out" tests before being discharged, and was hired to work in the Houston office after Jer's discharge.

The family moved to their last LP home when they were expecting their second child, Karen Anne, who was born late July, 1968. That neighborhood was perfect for the family with all the young families up and down the street; lots of kids playing all day long in the summertime. So fun!

After working for IBM for several years, Jer was hired with a raise each time, for Control Data, Comma Corp, and Amdahl Corp. It was while he worked for Amdahl, that he had the distinct pleasure of working at NASA in Clear Lake City, which was 20 minutes from home. He absolutely loved just being there as a contract worker/field engineer for Amdahl, as NASA was "right down his alley" with his youthful experiences in aeronautical designs and implementation.

As Jerry matured, he became a master builder, designing and constructing a large addition to the family home, then after the couple purchased some acreage near several other members of the extended Wickel family, he went on to design and build the family's country house, observatory, train room, and garage. He started with a 12' x 20' cabin, and just kept expanding it. In 1993, he gathered the men of the family and together, they put up the framework for the two-story addition. Such excitement! All the Wickel men could do almost anything, construction, plumbing, electrical work, and were all just terrific "fixers". They were all Renaissance men; they could all do practically anything. Wonderful talents!

After the couple's move (the children were both on their own at this time), Jer underwent a huge spiritual awakening, and felt he was being called by God to follow Him. When he asked his minister, Glen Schoeneberg about this, Glen suggested Jer take the UCC Lay Minister class. Before Jer could finish the two-year course, he was asked to serve as Interim Minister at Lyons UCC and after that time was over, he went on to serve in several churches in the area, including St. John's UCC, as Asst. Pastor. He loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him in every way possible. He would oftentimes preach, then sing during the service.

He was a multi-talented, creative, loving, and highly intelligent man who loved doing so many things, but his main priorities and greatest loves were for his family and the Lord. The family thanks Brazos Valley Hospice for their loving and very competent care, also Pastor John David Nedbalek of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Round Top, for his unstintingly loving heart and all the "above and beyond" help, Pastor Darrin Holub of St. John's UCC, Burton, for his loving visits, and his many friends and family for their prayers, visits and calls during his illnesses and hospitalizations over the past three years, especially these last few months. He leaves behind his wife, Jolene, daughter, Karen, and daughter-in-law, Julie, plus sister-in-law, Dotty and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his son, William (Willie), parents, Herbert & Alvina (Finke) Wickel, and siblings, Bill Wickel, Jo Ann (Wickel) Shippey Schnell, and DuWayne Wickel. Services will be held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church on Saturday, September 7th, 10:30 a.m. with Visitation to be held at Memorial Oaks Chapel on Friday, September 6th, with family present 5:00-7:00 p.m. For those who wish to memorialize Jerry, contributions may be made to Brazos Valley Hospice, Bridge Ministry of Burton, TX, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Round Top, or St John's UCC, Burton.