Tom Roy Reinhart
Tom Roy Reinhart was born on Dec. 28, 1933 in Victoria, Texas, to John James Reinhart and Emilie Elizabeth Stubbs Reinhart. He died at his home in Dallas on Oct. 13, 2005, in the grace of God as a faithful Catholic.
Tom was very grateful for his life and the love that filled it. He and his wife of 42 years, Patricia Noel Reinhart, had four much-loved children. Patricia
died in his arms after a long illness in 1999, which Tom described as a full lifetime.
The four children of Tom and Patricia are: Nancy Reinhart Karnoski, graduate of Texas A&M, now residing in Camarillo, Calif., with her husband Stephen Ray Karnoski and two children, Drew Alexander Karnoski, born 1986, and Noel Kathleen Karnoski, born 1989; Marshal Lee Reinhart, his loving oldest son, graduate of Texas A&M, now living in Dallas; James Timothy Reinhart, graduate of Rice and St. Edward”s Universities, now residing in Austin, with his wife Jennifer and three children, James Thomas, born 1991, Caitlin Emilie, born 1993, and Rebecca Marie, born 1996; and Andrew Roy Reinhart, graduate of Texas A&M and The University of Texas, now residing in Austin, with his wife Doriam and children Alexandra Marie, born 1999, and Ryan Andrew, born 2002.
Tom”s parents moved to Kilgore in 1937 and first lived in a double-barrel shotgun house at the foot of Commissioner”s Hill. Tom”s father, John Reinhart, paved the streets of Kilgore for Austin Road Company under the city administration of Mayor Roy H. Laird. Mr. Laird convinced Tom”s father that he had to quit moving around all the time, and that Kilgore was a fine place to raise a family. Tom”s father built a new home at 1201 Pine which is now in the historic district of Kilgore, and Tom and his older brother Johnnie were raised in Kilgore, becoming Eagle Scouts and attending all 12 grades of public school there, including Kilgore High School and Kilgore Jr. college. Tom elected for an engineering career, receiving his bachelor”s degree in mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he met Patricia Noel, who was attending Boston College. Tom and Patricia were married after his graduation in 1957. He served as a reservist in the U.S. Army Ordinance Corps, receiving an honorable discharge as a captain.
Tom began his engineering career with Shell Development Company in Houston, where he earned his master”s degree at the University of Houston through night school. A transfer to Shell Oil Company in New Orleans provided Tom the experience in offshore oil and gas operations useful in his remaining career. Subsequently, he went to work with the Baylor Company, a small specialized manufacturing company, which was bought out by the offshore drilling company, SEDCO. In 1985, SEDCO was then bought out by Schlumberger and renamed SEDCO FOREX. With SEDCO and SEDCO FOREX, he traveled the world”s continents and seas in the design of offshore drilling platforms, ships and equipment while maintaining a home in Texas. After retirement, he formed his own consulting business, which led to a two-year posting in Montreal designing and specifying the drilling equipment for Canada”s Hibernia offshore drilling and production platform.
Tom took great pleasure in having his wife, Patricia, travel with him to Japan, Hawaii, France, England, Canada, Germany, Scotland, Norway and Mexico.
A mass of Christian burial will be said for Tom on Friday, Oct. 21 at 11 a.m. at All Saints Catholic Church in Dallas. Visitation will be one hour before mass at 10 a.m. at the church and all week before at the funeral home. Interment will be in the early morning of Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005 at the Old Red Rock Cemetery, a historic cemetery dating back to Civil War times and a resting place of many of his ancestors. Tom, as per his wishes, will be buried next to Patricia Noel Reinhart and at the foot of the graves of his grandparents and great-grandparents.
Arrangements under the care and direction of Sparkman/Crane Funeral Home, 10501 Garland Rd., Dallas, Texas 75218, (214) 327-8291.
