Troy Thiel

Troy D. Thiel, 38, of Brenham, died on May 4, 2005, at 604 W. Mansfield St., Brenham, Texas. Troy is the son of Leon and Nancy Thiel of Brenham, born on November 21, 1966. He was a lifelong member of St. Paul s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brenham. He attended Grace Lutheran kindergarten and Brenham public schools, graduating from Brenham High School in 1985. He studied commercial art at Texas State Technical Institute of Waco and received an associate degree from Blinn College. He enrolled at Southwest Texas State University in 1989, where he received bachelors degrees in history and anthropology. In 1991 and 1996 he attended the University of Hannover, Germany. He had been employed since 1999 as a teacher with the American Academy of English in Bytom, Gliwice, Zabrze, Krakow and Sosnowiec, Poland. In 2001, he received a master of education in international teaching from Framingham State College in Massachusetts. In 2002, he wrote and published a book about U.S. tanks in WW2 and Korea, titled The M26 Pershing and Variants . He was a 17-year volunteer with Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Texas National Guard Museum in Austin. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Herbert and Ida Thiel and Alfred and Agnes Curtis of Brenham. Survivors include his parents, Leon and Nancy Thiel of Brenham; as well as numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. The family will receive visitors from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Sunday, May 8 in Memorial Oaks Chapel. The funeral service will be at 3:00 p.m. Monday, May 9 in Memorial Oaks Chapel with Pastor Lawrence Bade and Pastor Bob Craig officiating. Burial will be in Prairie Lea Cemetery in Brenham. Following the graveside service, the family will receive callers in their home at 604 W. Mansfield, Brenham, where the celebration of Troy s life will continue. Pallbearers are Wade Petty, Terry Petty, Jerry Curtis, Michael Curtis and Mark Menn, all of Houston, Don Carlton of Austin, Ed Allas of Houston, and Randy Holtgrave of Effingham, Kansas. Honorary pallbearer will be John Graham of Church Crookham, England. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Texas National Guard Museum at Camp Mabry in Austin, or books may be donated, in his name, to the Blinn College Library. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Memorial Oaks Chapel, 1306 W. Main St., in Brenham.