Obituary of Edgar William Hartmann Jr

Edgar William Hartmann Jr., 89, passed away on Monday, May 13, 2019. He was born on July 7, 1929, in Rowena, Texas where he attended elementary and high school at St. Joseph’s Catholic School and was known throughout the town as Junior. Edgar is preceded in death by his parents, Edgar and Hazel Hartmann Sr.  Left to cherish his memory are his loving wife of 61 years, Evelyn Hartmann; sons, Duane Hartmann and wife, Carolyn, Carl Hartmann and wife, Sheryl; daughters, Karen Turnbull and husband, Bob, Jeaneen Rychlik and husband, Michael; grandchildren, Steven Rychlik and wife, Kristal, Michele LaNoue and husband, Eric, Alec Hartmann, Kimberlee McCabe and husband, Aidan, Courtney Hartmann, Kaydee Hartmann, Allison Hartmann, and Jennifer Hartmann; great grandchildren, Jonathann Rychlik and Tristan McCabe; and a host of other family and dear friends.

In his youth, Ed was faithful to serving as an altar boy and served as a Page to investiture ceremonies of the Catholic Church.  He was an avid fiddle player and loved to perform at various functions; when his fiddle rested, his beautiful tenor voice was in the choir.  At the young age of 10, his spare time was spent working with his cotton broker Dad at different cotton gins all over the state of Texas.  Ed would often tell his dad “I have rolled 80 bales of cotton on the train flat cars. Can I quit for the day?  I’m so tired. I have to do my homework yet.”

Ed studied at several colleges and had degrees in Chemistry, Business, Accounting and Religion.  He proudly served his country in the United States Army during the Korean conflict achieving the rank of Sergeant. He started out working for Asarco in Corpus Christi, then worked for the following companies in Houston; Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola and U.S. Steel.

Ed loved camping with his family and traveling around the country with his wife in their travel trailer. He also was skilled in carpentry and made many pieces of furniture for his family. Later in life, as a hobby, he and his wife started a small craft business making wooden names and other sorts of creative pieces.

He was a member of the Knights of Columbus for over 60 years and was an honorary member of Council # 8960 in Pearland, Texas.  He was a loving, caring husband and father and always put the needs of others before himself.  Ed’s motto was: “Do good to others and keep the Faith.”  He will forever be missed by all who knew and loved him.

A visitation and rosary for Ed will be held Thursday, May 16, 2019 at Clayton Funeral Home, 5530 W. Broadway, Pearland, Texas 77581.  The visitation will be held from 5:30 until 8:00 pm with a Rosary recited at 6:00 pm.  The Mass of Christian Burial will take place Friday, May 17, 2019 at 1:00 pm at St. Helen Catholic Church, 2209 Old Alvin Rd., Pearland, Texas 77581 with Father Jim Courville officiating.  Interment will follow at Resurrection Cemetery at SouthPark in Pearland, Texas, with full military honors.  Online condolences may be left for the family at www.claytonfuneralhomes.com.