Leo Theodore van Amerongen

1929 - 2015

Leo van Amerongen passed away Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014, on his 85th birthday. Funeral: 11 a.m. Monday at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Granbury. Leo was born Dec. 30, 1929, in Simpelveld, Holland, to Eef van Amerongen and Gertud Johanna Lerschen van Amerongen. Leo emigrated by boat to the United States in 1948. He graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in civil engineering. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951 and served during the Korean War. He married Mary Czerniawski in New York in 1957. They lived in Louisiana, Illinois, New Jersey, Indiana and Germany, before settling north of Manhattan in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., where they lived for many years and raised their three daughters. Leo was employed as a project manager and was also a licensed professional engineer. He worked for Westinghouse and Ebasco, among others. For a number of years, his office was located in Number 2 World Trade Center. Along with work in New York, his career took him to many projects all over the world, including work in Argentina, Chile, Spain, China, Russia and Mexico. His last project prior to retirement was engineering a new PATH train station after it had been destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He relocated to Granbury in 2005. Leo had a great love of travel and the food, wine, art, music and culture of other countries and was fluent in five languages. He adventured all over the world, including Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Brazil, the Galapagos Islands, Egypt and Indonesia, and he returned to Holland many times. He was an active member of the South American Explorers Club. Leo also enjoyed hiking, especially the Appalachian Trail, gardening, cooking, carpentry and sharing stories and wisecracks over a bottle of Dutch beer and cheese. Survivors: Wife, Mary van Amerongen; daughters, Elizabeth van Amerongen of Baltimore, Md., Jeanne Rodgers and her husband, Rick Rodgers, of Granbury and Julie van Amerongen and her husband, Matt Butler, of Portland, Ore.; grandchildren, Rachael Rodgers and Glenn Rodgers of Granbury and Shealan van Butler and Calliope van Butler of Portland, Ore.; and brother, Edward van Amerongen of Hypoluxo, Fla.