A funeral service for John Howard Oglethorpe, 93, a longtime resident of Beaumont, will be held Monday, Dec. 14, at 2 p.m. at Broussard's Mortuary, 2000 McFaddin Ave. A visitation will precede the service at 1 p.m. He will be laid to rest next to his wife at Forest Lawn.
John passed away Sunday, Dec. 6, after an illness. Fittingly, his death came peacefully on the eve of Pearl Harbor Day. He was part of the Greatest Generation and had gone in with the Navy Seabees to rebuild Pearl Harbor after the Japanese bombing.
John was born in Teague, Texas, on Dec. 12, 1921, to Travis and Anna Oglethorpe. In Teague, where he grew up, attended school and played tuba in the high school band, he was known by his middle name, Howard. After graduating from Teague High School in 1939, he held various jobs and met his future wife, Dorothy Faye Lout, an East Texas girl who was working as a waitress at her uncle’s cafe in Teague.
John and Faye were married on Aug. 24, 1942, in Waco, and John soon joined the Navy. As a Navy Seabee, he served his country during World War II in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Saipan. When he and Faye were reunited after the war three years later, they settled in Beaumont, where they would raise two daughters. John, who by this time had gained the nickname of “Tubby,” went to work for Mobil Oil, which was then known as Magnolia Petroleum. He held a variety of positions at the Beaumont refinery until he retired as a senior foreman in 1984.
For the past five and a half years, John had lived in Waco, where he moved to be closer to his daughters. He attended Stonegate Community Church in Waco and was a member of West End Baptist Church in Beaumont.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Dorothy Faye Lout Oglethorpe; parents, Travis and Anna Oglethorpe; brother, Tom Oglethorpe and wife Nina; and brothers-in-law J.E. Lout Jr. and wife Opal, James Lout and wife Opal, and Billy Lout and wife Marie.
He is survived by daughters Bonnie Emmons and husband Win III of Waco and Kim Oglethorpe Matkin and husband Mike of Irving; grandchildren Win Emmons IV of Waco and Melissa Matkin of Irving; and several nephews and nieces, including Tom Lout of Dallas, Mike Lout of Jasper, Lynnette Russo and Dianne Davis of Conroe, and Tommie J. Oglethorpe of Texola, Okla.
