William Donald Devenport's Obituary
William Donald Devenport, Don to all that have known him since his earliest days when they called him Billy Don, was born October 30, 1926 in Lubbock, TX and died April 7, 2015 at his home at Stoneybrook Memory Care, McKinney, TX. He had been afflicted with late-onset Alzheimer’s for several years. Don grew up in small towns in West Texas where both his parents taught in one-room schoolhouses. He spent summers working the farms of his grandfathers and uncles. He started college at Texas Tech but was drafted into the Army Signal Corps toward the end of WWII. He was still in training when the war ended. Back in West Texas, he started work for the Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific railroad, and alternated semesters at college between himself and his sister, Mary Lou. He met Betty Louise Schmid when she came to Snyder to visit family for Christmas and got together with a college friend who happened to be Don’s sister. Don and Betty were married in 1952. They moved a lot in their early years including a stint in Lubbock for Don to finish his Electrical Engineering degree at Texas Tech as well as California, Texas, Oklahoma, and Caracas, Venezuela. They had two daughters along the way and settled in the Dallas area in 1963 when Don went to work for the predecessor companies to E-Systems. He officially retired from E-Systems, Greenville Division in 1986 but worked a few more years, retiring permanently in 1989. Betty died in 1993 shortly after their 40th wedding anniversary after a long bout with colon cancer. Don met Jeanette Nixon at Believer’s Chapel which had been Don’s family’s home church since 1972. Jeanette was also a long-time member, and she had been a widow for 10 years. They married at Thanksgiving of 1993. Don and Jeanette continued to travel, especially to Vocal Majority contests and events, for as long as they could. They have been in memory care together since 2011. He had a lifelong passion for singing from the time a teacher said they were starting a glee club across the hall to which the boys snubbed their noses. Don said, “I don’t know about you guys, but all the girls went over there, so that’s where I’m going.” He sang barbershop harmony for many years, first with the Town North Tigers, then about 25 years with the Vocal Majority, then with the Big D Chorus, and various quartets along the way. He had a lot of phrases that we called “Donisms” – “frappin’ on it”, “gooder ‘n syrup”, “colder than a frog’s bottom”, he preferred “hen eggs and hog’s meat” for breakfast, and lately “Oh goody” or “Whoopee” were his agreeable responses to most requests and reminders. He was one of those people who did everything that needed to be done without complaining and trusted God for everything that was beyond his control. He was preceded in death by his parents, William Silas Devenport and Mary Alice Wiman Devenport, his first wife, Betty Louise Schmid Devenport, his younger sister, Mary Lou Devenport D’Esposito, and his daughter, Kasi Alane Devenport Peek. He is survived by his wife, Jeanette Williams Nixon Devenport, her sons and their families and his daughter, Jaquidon Devenport Kruger and her husband. There will be a visitation at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas, Friday, April 10, 2015 from 6:00-8:00 PM. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75238 at Restland Road.
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