JOHN MICHAEL GREEN
John Michael Green died four days before his 89th birthday on August 13th, 2004, in Beaumont, Texas, where he was born on August 17, 1915, in the middle of a hurricane. He was the son of Elizabeth Green Green and Edward Hartman Green, who had settled in Beaumont at the beginning of the 20th century. His parents, his sister, Katherine Green Baker, and his brother, Edward Hartman Green, Jr. pre-deceased him.
He attended St. Anthony’s Grammar School and graduated from St. Anthony’s High School in 1932. In 1934, he graduated from Lamar Junior College, where he studied on a football scholarship and played tackle on Lamar’s first football team under Coach, and later Lamar University President, John Gray. He received another football scholarship from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he completed his education and also met his wife, Dorothy Elizabeth Fontenot, whom he married on April 27, 1940. In 2000, they renewed their marriage vows in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans with all their children and grandchildren present.
He joined his father and brother at the E.H. Green Lumber Company. With the onset of World War II, he was commissioned an officer in the United States Navy, where he served on active duty from 1942-1946. His principal assignment was with Navy Aviation. He served collateral duty with surface craft and taught aerial gunnery at Quonset Naval Air Station, Rhode Island. He retired with the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Naval Reserve.
After the war, he settled back in Beaumont and worked at E. H. Green Lumber Company, where he eventually served as president until it was sold in 1976. In 1968, he was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as Director of the Houston Regional Office of the Federal Housing Authority, where he worked until 1969, at which time he resigned to become president of Miller-Vidor Land Company, which later became Mil-Vid Properties, until 1994, and remained on the Board of Directors until his death.
In addition to his professional duties, John was always active in civic and community affairs. He served several times as director and held various offices in both the Beaumont Club and the Beaumont Rotary Club. He was a member of the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce and was also active in the Vidor Chamber of Commerce, serving as director several times.
In 1973, Governor Dolph Briscoe appointed him to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission for a six-year term. It was also doing Briscoe’s administration that he was instrumental in getting hospice started in the state of Texas.
In 1977, Gov. Briscoe nominated him to Mr. Elliot Richardson, the Secretary of Commerce under President Gerald Ford, to serve a one-year term on the newly organized Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council. He served on the council for seventeen years, two terms as chairman, and achieved a national level of expertise in matters related to fisheries in federal waters.
John Green was an avid outdoorsman and sportsman. He played tennis and golf, hunted and fished, and owned boats all of his adult life.
He was a member of St. Anne Parish, a lifelong supporter of Catholic education, and was active in Monsignor Kelly Booster Club activities for many years.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy Fontenot Green: by his four children, John Michael Green, Jr. and his wife, Mary Walsh Green of Houston; Patricia Green Thorp and her husband, Edward Wilson Thorp of Beaumont; Sarah Elizabeth Green Haddad and her husband, Ricardo Haddad of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and David Hugh Green and his wife, Kathy Sylvester Green of Allentown, Pennsylvania; by his nephew, Edward Hartman Green and his wife, Margaret Phelan Green, their children and grandchildren; and by his nine grandchildren, Thomas Michael Green and his wife Karen David-Green of Houston, Dr. Marjorie Catherine Green of Houston, John Edward Green and his wife, Katherine Scaglia Green of Kansas City, Missouri, Seawillow Dixon Edwards of Beaumont, Roberto Green Haddad and Suzana Green Haddad of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Patrick David Green of Washington, D.C., Christopher James Green and Meaghan Elizabeth Green of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and by his two great-grandsons, John Michael Green, III and Thomas Wyatt Green of Houston. He is also survived by his Labrador, Babe.
Friends are welcome to visit with the family at Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin on Monday, August 16th at 5:00 p. m. with the vigil service at 6:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 3:30 in the afternoon at St. Anne Catholic Church on August 17th followed by burial at Magnolia Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Thomas M. Green, Roberto G. Haddad, John E. Green, Patrick D. Green, Christopher J. Green, and E. Hartman Green.
The family appreciates your many thoughts, kindnesses, and prayers, and would like to give special thanks to Bobby Williams, Trina Segura, and Marva Maxson for their dedication and patience.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Anne Catholic Church, P.O. Box 3429 Beaumont, Texas 77704; St. Anthony Cathedral Restoration Fund, P.O. Box 3309 Beaumont, Texas 77704; Monsignor Kelly High School, 5950 Kelly Drive Beaumont, Texas 77707; or to the charity of your choice.
