Billy Garner Death Notice Cause – Billy Jack Gardner, 85, of Charleston, WV died peacefully at home on Saturday, March 30. Patricia “Pat” Garner, his 59-year-old wife, and daughters supported him. Bill was born in Richards, Texas, on September 21, 1938, and raised in Magnolia pipeline company communities. After his father died in 1949, the family moved to Baytown, Texas. The Methodist Men and Scoutmasters mentored the bright-eyed child, who was easy to like. A paper route and bowling alley pin-setting were among his jobs. The engine was removed and rebuilt to keep the family Studebaker running. He often talked about traveling the train to Irvine for the 1953 Boy Scout Jamboree as an Eagle Scout. Bill won the Bausch & Lomb Science Award at Robert E. Lee High School in 1956 for his early math and physics skills. He proudly attended Texas A&M with his summer earnings, becoming the first in his family to graduate college.
His Corps of Cadets and Ross Volunteers service and Chemical Engineering major made him a devoted Aggie. His daughters and grandchildren loved his passionate stories of flooding a rival dorm with Bab-O bombs. His full college-level memory also impressed them. The Air Force employed him from 1961 until 1964 after graduation. He told his commanding officer, “Send me anywhere, as long as it’s warm!” after a year at Glasgow AFB in Montana. He met Patricia Ann English, an Oklahoma country girl turned English teacher who shared his values and was up for an adventure, in Tucson, his second posting. They married on New Year’s Eve 1964 and moved to Pittsburgh, where Bill got a master’s in Industrial Hygiene, and then to Texas, where he joined Union Carbide and earned a chemical engineering master’s from Texas A&M.
Bill helped plastics production develop over 35 years. An exceptionally big polyethylene reactor was developed while he and Pat were pregnant with their third daughter. This reactor, six times larger than anything on the market, was celebrated like an Apollo rocket launch. Bill produced the process design documentation and traveled the world to license the technology to overseas clients after the family moved to Charleston, West Virginia. In those years, his daughters wondered, “Where’s Dad?” He said, “He’s been in Australia all week.” For years, he led the Tech Center’s R&D Division and pilot plant before retiring as Project Manager of Red Deer, Alberta’s largest ethylene glycol plant. Five process patents are his.
In his midlife, Bill bought a 23-foot Westerly yacht share instead of a fast car. He smiled and Pat and the girls followed when he touched the tiller. Many family vacations were spent on the Laughing Gull in Chesapeake Bay. Looking back, she says, “Everyone needs a little hardship in their lives, and you girls would not know hardship if not for that boat!” Later, he and Pat upgraded to a Sabre yacht, convinced friends to overnight in Mexico and the Bahamas, and welcomed many winter visitors in Florida.
Captain Bill and First Mate Pat completed the Great Loop on the Monk trawler for nine months. Bill, a Methodist, has attended Christ Church for about 50 years. He was a trustee for many of them and left two legacies: the sanctuary’s stained-glass windows and Pat’s Playground, a 20-year labor of love that proved Bill Garner were the best at solving problems.
Bill loved his three children and attended many ballet and piano recitals. He encouraged his grandsons to become engineers and financed their 529 plans and Texas A&M scholarships. He loved his Lone Star background and was thrilled to be a fifth-generation Texan. He was a great connector who built lasting friendships. His seven grandchildren remember tractor rides, College Station vacations, Granddad embraces, and his “sneaky smile.” He was a faithful husband and life partner to Pat. Doctors Jay Lohan and Ahmed Khalid at CAMC, Drs. Mustafa Raoof and Ali Zhumkhawala at City of Hope, Five South staff at CAMC Memorial, HospiceCare, and Visiting Angel Tiffany Moon deserve special thanks for their three-year support of Bill.
He was curious and kind to caregivers in his final days. His wife, Pat Garner, daughters Melissa Wylie (Jay), Jennifer Garner, and Susannah Carpenter (Jonathan), brother Jerry Garner of Baytown, Texas, grandchildren Jack, Emma, Griffin, Violet, Alex, Seraphina, and Sam, and other loving family, nephews, and nieces survive Bill A memorial service with live streaming will be held at Christ Church United Methodist in Charleston, West Virginia, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 6, 2024, followed by a reception from 2-4 p.m. Doctor Jay Parkins will officiate.
