CECIL EARL FERRELL

CECIL EARL FERRELL sailed away on his last trip on August 27, 2008 at 11:25 p.m. A lifelong native, Cecil was born on December 26, 1926 in Corpus Christi, Texas to Cecil Williford Ferrell, of Dallas, Texas who served in the Army in World War I in Europe. While training in Corpus Christi, Texas Cecil’s father met Clara Anna Womack, whose parents came from two of the oldest families in the Coastal Bend, the Womack's and the Linney's. After the war, they married. In 1935, at the age eight, Cecil started selling newspapers on the streets of downtown Corpus Christi and aboard ships at the port. On Jan. 20, 1942, 44 days after Pearl Harbor and 25 days after his 15th birthday, Cecil was standing on the dock after selling his papers on board the tanker S S Thermo, waiting to watch it sail. While in process of letting the lines go, the captain hollered down from the bridge and invited Cecil to go with them on a 4-day trip to Texas City. Upon returning, Cecil forged a birth certificate to be a 17-year-old and joined the merchant marine. He sailed the sub-infested waters of the Gulf and Eastern seaboard till July, when he shipped out on the oil tanker S S Esso Dover to Liverpool, England. The last two nights there, the city was bombed for the last time in the war. After returning, Cecil resumed coastal runs until June of 1943, when he caught the S S Benjamin R. Milam, a new liberty ship out of the Houston shipyard and returned to Liverpool and Manchester, England. After returning, he again sailed the coastal runs until July of 1944, when he shipped out on the Liberty ship S S Robert J. Collier out of New York to Bari, Italy with a load of bombs. Returning to New York, he shipped out on the tanker S S The Cottonwoods, at age 17 as boatswain, perhaps the youngest boatswain in the entire merchant marine, Cecil was in charge of the deck dept., going to London, England with a load of aviation gas and a deck cargo of P-38 Lightning fighters. While discharging at the south end of London, the crew watched V-2 rockets flying overhead that night for London proper. Cecil returned home for a short leave before going to Houston, Texas to ship out on another new Liberty ship, the S S Paul David Jones bound for Hollandia, New Guinea, where they formed a convoy and towed a L.C.I. landing craft to Leyte in the Philippines. Reforming in another convoy, they made the second landing at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon Island. The ship was also one of the first in Subic Bay and Cecil was able to go ashore to Manila right after its capture. All together, Cecil was on 11 tankers, 3 freighters and 1 sea tug during W.W. II. He was not old enough to be drafted until 1945. Cecil received every campaign ribbon issued to merchant seaman during the war, including the North Atlantic, South Pacific and Mediterranean theaters, as well as the wartime medal. He was very proud of the fact that he is one of very few seamen to have actually steered ships through both the Panama and Suez canals. He steered through the Panama Canal on his 18th birthday. Cecil married Joyce Kingston in 1948, with the union producing three boys, Thomas, Jack and Frank, plus three girls, Linda, Janice and Sheila. The marriage failed in 1959, with Cecil getting custody of the boys, whom he raised with help from his mother until Jan. 2, 1962, when he married Wilma Mae Lemke. With her loving help, they raised Cecil’s three boys and Mae’s four girls from a previous marriage. Cecil worked from 1950 to 1964 as a mail and freight truck driver for Missouri Pacific. From 1960 to 1964, he managed the National Little League Pirates, winning three championships and tying one. In 1965, he returned to sea, sailing on an old Liberty ship loaded with wheat for the starving people of Calcutta, India. Then, he sailed on Gulf Oil and Hess Oil Company tankers running from Corpus Christi, Texas to East Coast ports. In 1966, Cecil went to work on tugboats for the GandH Towing Co., docking ships at the Port of C.C. He served on many tugs and worked his way up to captain, retiring on Dec. 1, 1988. Cecil loved to travel, taking yearly trips each June in the 60’s and 70’s throughout all fifty states with his family. Starting in 1982, Cecil and Mae traveled around the world, visiting 125 countries, including every country in Europe and South America, most of the major Asian countries, as well as China and Russia in 1983 and 1985, as one of the first tourists there. Cecil is survived by his loving and faithful wife and best friend, Wilma “Mae�, his three sons, Thomas Earl Ferrell, Jack Edward Ferrell, both of Corpus Christi, Texas and Frank Albert Ferrell of Boerne, Texas plus his three stepdaughters, Carol Stafford, Diana Lewis and Brenda Stafford, all of Corpus Christi,Texas plus 13 grand children and 18 great grandchildren. His stepdaughter, Peggy Kennett, preceded him in death in 2006. Family graveside services will be held at Seaside Cemetery on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. Visitation will be on Friday, August 29, 2008 at Seaside, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The family wishes to express our sincerest gratitude to Odyssey Hospice, to Serenity House, and to John Flores, his family and staff for their wonderful loving care during Cecil’s last two months.