William R "Bill" Bundrick, Sr.

William R (Bill) Bundrick, Sr. of Cleveland, Texas passed away on February 28, 2019 in Kingwood, Texas at the age of 95.

Bill was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Ruth “Maxine” Bundrick; parents Signa Harper Bundrick and Dewitt Bundrick; sister Jessie Lou Bundrick Ross; brother Harper Bundrick; daughters-in-law, Donna Atkinson Bundrick and Nancy Walling Bundrick and great granddaughter, Kami Kabernik.

Bill is survived by sons William Bundrick, Jr. of Cleveland, Tx; Samuel Bundrick of Palestine, Tx; Jimmy Bundrick and wife Kay of Colorado Springs, Co. and John Bundrick and wife Jody of Somerset, England; 6 grandchildren; 19 great grand children and 1 great great grand daughter, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and great friends.

Bill was born on December 6, 1923 in Stockdale, Texas the son of a school teacher and farmer and lived his early years in Floresville, Texas during the time of the Great Depression. While attending high school, he met the love of his life, Maxine. Because there were few opportunities at this time as the country was recovering from the depression, Bill enlisted in the United State Navy on June 30, 1942 and was headed off to war. He and Maxine remained close and wrote letters often. In 1943, he wrote a letter to Maxine’s parents asking for her hand in marriage. . In his letters, he spoke of the hardships of war and discouraged Maxine from joining the service after seeing first hand the devastation in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They were married on March 19, 1944. Bill was awarded the Bronze Star with a special commendation for valor for his heroic achievement and service in a combat zone while stationed on the USS Claxton in the Phillipines. This honor is very rare and only about 1 in every 40 service members were given this distinction in WW2.

Bill and Maxine would go on to have 4 sons and live all over Texas following the pipeline from Brownsville to Victoria. While in Victoria, Bill discovered his love of music when he played with a trio of musicians, Clarence, Shorty and Grandville Long. The group recorded many home records that we still have today.

Bill went on to become a welder and the family moved to North Shore, a suburb of Houston right down the street from the Rankin cousins until the boys all left home. Bill and Maxine bought a piece of land on the Trinity River when the boys were teenagers and Bill and the boys built the house that he lived in until his final days.

Many wonderful memories were made through the years out at “the country.” The Kindreds and then eventually the Martins would become their neighbors and it wasn’t long before the families became very close. Fishing, hunting across the lake, travel trailer camping trips and many, many weekends spent playing music in the “blue building” was the life they enjoyed. Bill also became interested in wood working and carved shelves, dollhouses, doll cradles and many other things for his grandchildren and great grandchildren after retirement.

In 1999, Maxine became ill and required specialized care. His love for her was never more evident as he didn’t hesitated in taking care of her himself and did so for the remaining 10 years of her life.

Loyal, kind, talented, stern, hard working, a life of 95 years well lived.

Funeral services were held on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at Pace Stancil Funeral Home in Cleveland, Texas followed by internment at Pace Stancil Cemetery in Cleveland, Texas. Pall bearers included nephews Cecil Rankin and Larry Ross; Great-grandsons Chase Bundrick, Cade Bundrick, Jay Bundrick, Benjamin Nitsche, Wade Farmer and Elijah Hasse. Honorary pall bearers were great grandsons Taylor Bundrick, Alec Farmer, Garrin Bundrick, Micah Hasse and Ryan Bundrick. Grandson David Bundrick officiated the ceremony.