George Gause Ware

1945 - 2002

George Gause Ware, 56, an a loving father, grandfather, son, brother and uncle, died Sunday, Sept. 22, 2002, at a local hospital following a lengthy illness.

Funeral: 11 a.m. Wednesday in the chapel at Robertson Mueller Harper. The Rev. Dr. William Longsworth of First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth will officiate. Burial: Following committal services, George will be laid to rest with family members in the Live Oak section of Greenwood Memorial Park. Visitation: He will lie in state at the funeral home where his family will receive friends 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Bearers of his casket will be Luis Cisneros, Jay Beck, John M. Ware, Ware Wendell, Morton Wendell, Jeff Krippell, Dale Whitehead and Brian Allen.

Memorials: Those desiring, please make memorial contributions in George's name to the American Diabetes Association.

A native and lifelong resident of Fort Worth, George Gause Ware was born Dec. 17, 1945, the son of Morton Gause and Margaret "Dolly" Guleke Ware. He attended Fort Worth public schools. Following graduation from Arlington Heights High School in 1964, George attended Kemper Military Institute and Texas Christian University and was a 1968 graduate of the Texas College of Mortuary Science.

He was a funeral director at Gause-Ware Funeral Home, which was founded in 1879 by his great-grandfather, Fort Worth pioneer George L. Gause. The younger Mr. Ware was a fourth generation of Fort Worth's oldest funeral home, which was in continuous operation by the family for 110 years. He was co-founder of Gause-Ware's "Friends in Need," an early-day bereavement support group.

George also worked as an insurance agent and later a computer consultant, but he always had time for hobbies, radio-controlled airplanes, car racing and boating. For several years he owned Hobby Stop on the city's west side. He served as president of the Thunderbirds, a radio-controlled airplane club, and was on a committee working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to install the airstrip at Benbrook Lake, a center for the Thunderbirds.

His memberships also included the Sertoma Club, as a charter member, Fort Worth Power Squadron, Corvette Club of Texas and Young Fort Worthians of the Union Bank.

George was preceded in death by his father and brother, Robert Guleke Ware. His grandparents, John Morton and Louise Gause Ware and J.O. and Agnes Seewald Guleke, of Amarillo and his brother-in-law, Robert C. Howe of San Antonio, also preceded him.

Survivors: A devoted father, he is survived by his daughters, the "Four A's," Andrea Louise Ware-Cisneros and her husband, Luis, Allison Dianne Ware Beck and her husband, Jay, Alicia Jane Ware and Ashley Marie Ware, and their mother, Deborah Andrews Ware Hartman and her husband, W.A. "Buddy" Hartman, all of Fort Worth; grandchildren, Kane Emanuel Salinas, Willies Joseph "Trey" Hunt III, Abigail Dianne, Aiden Matthew and Anna Kathryn Beck; mother, Margaret "Dolly" Guleke Ware of Fort Worth; sisters, Mary Jane Ware Howe of San Antonio and Margaret Ann "Bebe" Ware Wendell and her husband, John; brother, James Morton "Jim" Ware and his wife, Kathy, all of Fort Worth; several nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews; and his "Monnie," Johnnie Mae Wilson.