William C. TYRRELL, Jr.

TYRRELL, SULLIVAN, EASTMAN, KYLE, GATHRIGHT, CAMPBELL, HEVRDEJS, ROYER, PATTERSON, KOONTZ, CHENAULT

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/7/2007 at 01:27:35

October 14, 2003

William C. (Bill) Tyrrell, Jr., died on Monday, October 13, 2003. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 18, at 1:30 p.m., at the First United Methodist Church in Beaumont, Texas. He will be buried next to his wife at the family mausoleum at the Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont. Pallbearers will be his grandsons and the spouses of his granddaughters.

Bill was born in Beaumont on January 16, 1906. He was the grandson of Capt. William C. Tyrrell, one of the early entrepreneurs of Beaumont and southeast Texas. Bill spent most of his early years on the Tyrrell family farm in Belmond. He graduated from Belmond High where he was an accomplished athlete, lettering in baseball, basketball and track. He then attended the University of Iowa for two years, followed by two years at the University of Colorado, where he lettered in golf, graduating with a degree in Business Administration, and met his wife of more than 70 years, Catherine Ross Sullivan. Bill was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity at both schools. Following graduation and marriage in 1930, Bill and Catherine moved back to Beaumont where he managed a structural steel business. After the birth of their first daughter, Jeanne Ross, the family moved to Belmond where Bill and his brother, Preston managed the Tyrrell family farming operating until the end of World War II. During this time daughters, Lynne Ellen and Frances Alice were born. Bill served two terms in the Iowa House of Representatives. In 1946, following the death of his father, Bill was appointed Trustee of the W. C. Tyrrell Trust and moved his family back to Beaumont. He served in that capacity until November 1966 when the trust was dissolved. He then managed the Tyrrell family properties as agent for the entire family until his retirement in 1985. He remained active in business affairs, managing his personal properties and consulting with his successor, Frank Eastman, the husband of daughter, Jeanne. During his active years in Beaumont, Bill was selected as King Rex VII by the Knights of the Neches in 1956. He was a director of the Community Chest (now United Way) and was general chairman in 1960. He was a director of American National Bank (now Hibernia) and Beaumont State Bank (now Bank of America). He was a trustee and later a governor of Scott and White Clinic and Hospital in Temple, Texas. He was a director of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Assn. He was active in the Beaumont Rotary Club where he was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow by his family in November 1983. He was a long time member of the First United Methodist Church. He was a patron and active participant in the Beaumont Symphony Society, the Beaumont Music Commission, the Tyrrell Historical Library, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas and the Lamar University Cardinal Club.

Preceding him in death were his wife; parents, W. C. and Ellen Christie Tyrrell; brothers, Harry F. Tyrrell of Beaumont, W. Preston Tyrrell of Belmond and David Tyrrell of Shreveport, Louisiana; sister, Carol Kyle of Beaumont; daughters, Jeanne Eastman and Frances Gathright; sons-in-law, C. Kent Gathright of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Clifford Campbell of Houston. Bill is survived by his daughter, Lynne Campbell of Houston; son-in-law, Frank Eastman of Beaumont; grandchildren, Ross (Laura) Eastman, Catherine (Frank) Hevrdejs and William (Dianne) Campbell all of Houston, Bryan (Donna) Campbell of Austin, Cary (Leigh) Gathright, Jr. of Tulsa and Grayson Royer of Colorado Springs; 11 great-grandchildren; sister-in-law, Katherine Tyrrell of Shreveport; nieces, Elizabeth Patterson of Dallas, Marion Koontz of Cedar Rapids, Emille Kyle Chenault of San Antonio and Sybil Patten of Shreveport; and nephews, Dwight Tyrrell of Belmond, David Tyrrell, Jr. of Dallas and William Tyrrell of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Memorials may be made to the Tyrrell Historical Library Association, P.O. Box 12563, Beaumont, Texas 77726; or the W. C. Tyrrell, Jr. Endowed Fund at the Foundation For Southeast Texas, P.O. Box 3092, Beaumont, Texas 77704.

©Belmond Independent 2003