ROBERT CAMPBELL, JR.

1923-2019

Robert Fariss Campbell

Jr. passed away on August 5, 2019. A memorial service will be held at Lunn’s Colonial Funeral Home on Friday, August 9 at 3:00 PM.

Robert (“Bob”) Fariss Campbell Jr. was born October 30, 1923, to

Robert Fariss Campbell and Genevieve Carver Campbell in Houston, Texas. Bob’s father was a longtime partner in the law firm of Andrews, Kurth, Campbell, and Jones. Bob attended Lamar High School in Houston and subsequently graduated from Schreiner Military Academy in Kerrville, Texas. After high school Bob attended the University of Texas in Austin until the spring of 1943, at which time he enlisted in the U. S. army. He served in the army from 1943 to 1945.

Upon his military discharge he returned to the University of Texas to resume his studies. While there he was an active member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. There too he met Marilyn Hobart to whom he was married in 1948. Bob and Marilyn moved from Houston to Wichita Falls in 1950, where they lived the remainder of their lives. Three children were born and raised during their twenty five years of marriage. Bob subsequently married Jean Maxon Campbell, who preceded him in death in 2005.

Bob’s work career in Wichita Falls entwined with the oil business. He initially sold drilling bits for Hughes Tool Company prior to working several years for the oil operator Merrill Blair. Bob eventually became an independent oil operator in 1965 and remained in the business until the end of the twentieth century. Though his outcomes in business ventures were mixed over the decades, he always maintained optimism for the next idea.

Bob had a lifelong interest in music with an encyclopedic knowledge of Big Band era songs. He was also an avid reader with a special focus on books of political economy. He was stridently anticommunist and anti-totalitarianism in all of its forms (including the current version of eco statism) throughout his adult life. The other passion that consumed him since childhood was total devotion to the University of Texas Longhorns, especially the football team.

The most significant accomplishment of Bob’s adult life would undoubtedly be his long time active involvement with Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1969 he quit drinking and joined AA. He was quite active in AA for over thirty years as a speaker and continued afterwards to the end of his life to interact and encourage others who had fallen under the unrelenting grip of alcohol. He was particularly delighted in July, 2015, when he had his 46th AA birthday and could say that he had lived the last half of his life sober. In July, 2019, he was awarded the AA chip for 50 years of sobriety.

Survivors include his three children: Robert F. Campbell III of Midland, Texas,

Sue Ann Campbell Temple and husband Cliff of Austin, Texas, and Dwight Hobart Campbell and wife Carol of Manvel, Texas. There are also five grandchildren including Daniel Temple, Jennifer Temple, Casey Temple Fryar, Matthew Temple, and Margaret Campbell (daughter of Dwight and Carol); additionally there are two great grandchildren.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.lunnscolonial.com.