JOE SIGMUND SOBOTIK
1934-2018
Joe Sigmund Sobotik, our brother, uncle, and friend, passed away peacefully on Friday, April 6, 2018, at the age of 84. He was born on January 17, 1934 in Schulenburg, TX.
Upon graduating from Schulenburg High School in 1952, Joe attended the University of Houston where he also worked as a news anchor for Channel 8. He served in the US Air Force for five years, including two years in London. He moved to Denver, Colorado and graduated from Regis University. Joe’s one and only long-term employer was R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT), where he worked as a sales representative, traveling the small towns of southwestern Colorado, the Four Corners area. Always a conversationalist, Joe vividly remembered the area all his life. He frequently recalled how the famous author Louis L’Amour once described the Four Corners during an interview on the Today Show, “the most beautiful area on the face of the earth.”
In 1987, and after 25 years, Joe “ran out of work” and retired from RJRT. He continued his travels, visited his dealer friends, and went on shopping trips for his former rural Colorado customers who became lifelong friends, always seeking the best bargain. In 2002, Joe moved to Houston to be closer to his family and childhood friends, where he made sure to try every new restaurant in town.
Joe was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar J. and Edna Schaefer Sobotik, and his older sisters, Theo Sobotik, and Lois Sobotik. He is survived by her sister, Janice Sobotik Davidson and husband Jake; niece, Julie Davidson, and other family members including Kristi Davidson Johnson, her husband Michael, and their children.
The family is most grateful to the caregivers at The Treemont for their loving care and kindness.
A devoted Roman Catholic, Joe was a member of St. Anne’s Catholic Community. A memorial Mass will be held at ten o’clock in the morning on Friday April 13, 2018, at St. Anne Catholic Community, 2140 Westheimer. A private family interment will be held at St. Rose Catholic cemetery in Schulenburg at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any donations be sent to the Alzheimer’s Association Houston & Southeast Texas Chapter, 6055 South Loop E, Houston, TX 77087, or a charity of your choice.