Calvin Echols

1937 - 2010

Calvin R. Echols, 72, passed away peacefully surrounded by family Thursday, March 4, 2010, after a brief illness.
Funeral: 10 a.m. Friday, March 12, at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Fort Worth. A reception will follow at Ridglea Country Club. Rosary: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 11, at Greenwood Funeral Home, followed by visitation until 9 p.m. Mr. Echols will lie in state at the funeral home beginning Wednesday.
Memorials: May be made in Calvin's honor to the American Lung Association, Box 470773, Fort Worth, Texas 76147.
Calvin was born at home to Joe and Maggie Echols on May 28, 1937, in Fort Worth. Calvin met his wife and the love of his life while attending Fort Worth's Trimble Tech High School in 1954. Calvin and Essie married in 1956. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2006.
Cal loved life and work, and couldn't wait to start both. He graduated from Paschal High School in 1957. By that time his career was well underway. An accomplished welder by age 16, Cal worked for Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co. until moving with his wife and first child, Karen, to California in 1963. There, Cal worked for Rocketdyne and welcomed his second child, Leslie.
The family moved home to Fort Worth in 1968. After a brief stint at General Dynamics, Cal began his life in industrial sales at Rite Weld Supply, Inc. He later joined Industrial Welding Supply Co., where he worked for more than 29 years before retiring and returning to Rite Weld.
Cal was a graduate of numerous technical and trade schools, and a lifetime member of the American Welding Association. He also owned and operated Double E Fab. Co. from 1983 to 2003, and was a member of Ridglea Country Club.
One of Cal's greatest passions was his farm in Rio Vista, where he raised Polled Hereford cattle. Cal was a member of the American Polled Hereford Association.
Calvin joined the Catholic Church in 1964. It was a decision he often said was, besides marrying Essie, the best he ever made. Cal was a member of St. Andrew Catholic Church for more than 30 years. Through those years, he served as a eucharistic minister and religious education teacher, and was a member and past officer of the Knights of Columbus.
Cal liked to say "It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."--Abraham Lincoln. Although his family and friends would have liked there to have been more, Cal lived the years he was given fully and on his own terms. He will be remembered as a man of principle, with a keen sense of humor and feisty temperament, who loved his family completely and unconditionally. He was a devout Christian, faithful son, committed husband, and devoted father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
Calvin was preceded in death by his father, Joe B. Echols.
Survivors: Mother, Maggie E. Echols of Fort Worth; wife, Essie Echols of Fort Worth; daughters, Karen Kimberling and husband, Jerome, of Fort Worth and Leslie Pitts and husband, Andy, of Colleyville; grandsons, Romen Kimberling and wife, Kim, Crawford Kimberling, Nolan Pitts and Dillon Pitts; and great-granddaughter, Kelsey Kimberling.