William Norman “Bill” Craigue, 85, of Beaumont, passed away peacefully at his home the morning of December 31, 2013.
Bill was born in Buffalo, New York, on June 1, 1928, to Louise Hughes Craigue and Norman A. Craigue. He was raised in Martinsville, Virginia, and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1955 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He spent two years in the United States Army, and taught fixed station radio at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
Bill made his career with DuPont USA. He first worked at the Savannah River plant as an instrument engineer, and was then in 1960 transferred to the Beaumont plant to install a pair of process surveillance computers. Bill spent thirty-three years working at DuPont before his retirement in 1993. He also taught mechanical drawing and descriptive geometry in the Department of Engineering at Lamar University.
Bill participated with his children in Indian Guides, Trail Blazers, Indian Princesses, and Boy Scouts, and taught Sunday school at Trinity United Methodist Church. He volunteered for some years at Baptist Hospital, Boys’ Haven, and the Beaumont Police Department substations. His early interests included spelunking (caving), rock climbing, and camping. Later in life, his pursuits included woodworking, target shooting and reloading, and ham radio. He was a voracious reader and precise thinker throughout his life. Bill was married to JoAnn (Jody) Jackson in May of 1962; she preceded him in death on October 23, 2000.
His daughter Elizabeth Ruth (Betsy) passed away in July of 2006. Bill is also preceded in death by his brother, Richard Craigue.
He is survived by his sisters, Peggy Hawes of Lynchburg, Virginia and Janet Attix, living in Wilmington, Delaware with her husband, Mark; sons, Robert Norman (Bobby) Craigue, who lives in Beaumont with his wife, Vanessa and Michael Jackson Craigue, living in Austin, with his partner, Jason Craft. Bill was a loving grandfather to his granddaughter, Brianna Brooke Vaglica; and grandson, Max Dominic Vaglica, both living in Beaumont with their father, Joseph Vaglica. Bill was also a close brother-in-law and uncle to Jody’s family: Judie Kight of Los Angeles, California and her partner, Sharon Greene; their daughter, Hazel Kight Witham and her husband, Drake Witham; and their grandson, Cormac Gray Witham.
A memorial service for Mr. Craigue will be 11:00 a.m., Saturday, January 4, 2014, at Broussard's, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont. A lifelong scholar and educator, Bill’s wishes were to donate his body to The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to Boys’ Haven of America, P.O. Box 5815, Beaumont, Texas 77726, http://www.boyshaven.com or to Kiva Microfunds, Kiva Attn: Chief Development Center, 875 Howard Street, Ste. 340, San Francisco, California 94103, http://www.kiva.org.
