Jewel Hymel was surrounded by his loved ones when he died peacefully at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital on June 8, 2004.
Born in Gramercy, Louisiana to Norma and Edmond Hymel on August 22, 1936, Jewel was among the tenth generation of German and Cajun French descendants in Southeastern Louisiana. He married his high-school sweetheart, Claire Steib, to whom he remained committed for over forty-three years.
Jewel was appreciated widely for his authentic individualism, his playful sense of humor and his uncanny mechanical aptitude. While the latter frustrated his elementary school teachers (he preferred taking apart watches in class to paying attention), it also fostered a lifetime of contributions from inventor and chemical engineer to computer engineer and woodworker.
As a graduate from Louisiana State University in Chemical Engineering, Jewel was employed both by Koppers Company and Arco Polymers from 1960-1982. In his favorite assignment, he and his family lived in Argentina for four years, where he relished the foreign culture, the big game hunting, and furthered his curiosity about distant places. Jewel's adventurous spirit led him from Tierra del Fuego to the Beaufort Sea, taking pride in having traversed the American continent from tip to tip.
After his retirement, Jewel indulged his fascination with computers by founding Computer Helper of Beaumont, a sole proprietorship that allowed him to serve hundreds of individuals and businesses throughout Southeast Texas. He also began a concentrated study of woodworking techniques and became a member of the local woodworkers guild. He is fondly remembered as a person who always had the right tool in his collection, who could construct imaginative ways of solving technical problems, and who would go to great lengths to help others.
Jewel was preceded in death by his parents and by his son, Stephen Eugene Hymel. He is survived by his wife Claire, son Chris, daughter and her husband Andrée and Jonathan Bober, sister and brother-in-law Carol and Gil Ardizone, sister-in-law Mary Enola Steib, nephew and wife Lynda and Bud LeCompte, niece Connie LeCompte, and three great nephews.
A gathering of family and friends will take place on Thursday, June 10th at Broussard's on Major Drive from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. with visitation at the same location on the following day at 11:00. Funeral services will be held at St. Jude Thaddeus Church on Friday, June 11th at 1:00 p.m., where Jewel was a faithful member. The burial will follow at Haven of Rest Cemetery.
The family of Jewel Hymel wishes to express its warmest thanks to the doctors and nurses at Christus St. Elizabeth for their outstanding care. Memorial contributions may be made to the hospital at P. O. Box 5405, Beaumont, Texas, in appreciation of its services.