Robert Walker Harless

Robert Walker Harless, beloved husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather, passed away at age 102.

Bob was a fourth generation Gonzalean. His great-great grandfather designed the first Gonzales dam on the Guadalupe River and his mother turned on the city’s first electric lights. He listened to the first radio in town. Bob’s mother was the first duchess from Gonzales to Fiesta, serving under Edith Kampmann. His family helped found the DAR chapter and the Presbyterian Church in the living room of their home. As a boy, Bob aided those, in 1924, who built the new sanctuary of the Presbyterian Church, driving nails in the under floor, and helping install and tune the Estey pipe organ. Both his grandfather and grandmother were organists at the church.

Living where the new public library is located today provided fascination for Bob as a youngster. He watched the circus set up across from his house, and he could hear the prisoners singing in the cells at the Old Jail. For all his life, Bob sang one of the inmate songs: “If I had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls I would fly, I’d fly to the arms of my poor darling, and there I’d be willing to die.” Bob also quoted the Catechism and the boy scout oath throughout his life.

Bob always had a job as a boy, delivering newspapers and working at the local grocery stores. Bob carried buckets of water to each young pecan tree around the old library and Presbyterian Church. Many of the trees still exist today. He swam in the Guadalupe River right below the dam at the Brick Yard, swinging out on a rope and splashing into the water. He secretly canoed with friends, who sometimes removed their clothes to keep them dry, but once had to flip and hide under the boat when the crew came upon a baptismal. Bob rushed home to tell his mother he had not drowned!

After elementary school in Gonzales, Bob attended Texas Military Institute in San Antonio and finished high school at Thomas Jefferson. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He was a Phi Gamma Delta.

After he was drafted, he received further military training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and at Fort Benning, Georgia.

He proudly served in the United States Army. As a soldier in the Sixteenth Corps of the Ninth Army, he participated in World War II, including the Battle of the Bulge. He was honorably discharged as Major in 1946. The army awarded two scholarships and Bob received one of them to attend Oxford University in England.

Upon his return to the United States, he met his beloved wife, Olivia, in San Antonio, and the couple raised three girls. Bob was employed in the Land Department of Magnolia Petroleum Company, now Exxon Mobil, and worked in all 48 of the contiguous states. While in Wichita Falls, he served as foreman of the grand jury, school board member, and deacon and elder in the Presbyterian church. He was named Man of the Year by the community.

He served as director of the American Association of Petroleum Landmen in Wichita Falls, Dallas, and Houston. He retired as a Certified Professional Landman after working for Mobil 45 years.

After retirement, he maintained an office in downtown Gonzales, where he was engaged in land management and investments with his wife and family. Olivia and he also spent six months out of the year in the mountains of New Mexico, where they had many friends.

He served on the Session of the Presbyterian Church of Gonzales and chairman of the Masonic Cemetery Committee. He was an active member in the Gonzales Masonic Lodge for over 75 years. He was also president of Walker Farms. Remarkably, he lived at home, healthy, active, and happy with his wife until his death. Most importantly, he deeply loved the Lord, his church, his family, and friends.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Ida and Robert H. Walker, and his mother Jennie W. Harless. Bob is survived by his loving wife, Olivia G. Harless; daughters and husbands, Betty and Dana Nicolay, Ida and Ralph McGarity, Olivia and David Yancey; and grandchildren Dane Robert Nicolay, Ian Elliott Nicolay, David Robert Yancey, and Diana Lee McGarity.

His family extends a special thank-you to his dedicated doctor, Terry Eska, and staff. Pallbearers are the grandchildren. Honorary pallbearers are members of the Wells Fargo Coffee Group, the Nine O’clock Coffee Group, the Birthday Group, and his Masonic Lodge friends.

Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Monday, July 3 in Seydler-Hill Funeral Home with Rev. Diana Whitley officiating. Interment will follow in the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery. The family received friends from 9:30-10 a.m. Monday morning at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Estey Pipe Organ Fund of the Presbyterian Church, 414 St. Louis Street, Gonzales, TX 78629; or to the Masonic Cemetery Fund, c/o P. O. Box 1942, Gonzales, TX 78629. Friends may sign the guestbook by going to www.seydlerhillfuneralhome.com. Services are under the care and direction of Seydler-Hill Funeral Home.