Thomas Woodward Houghton

THOMAS WOODWARD HOUGHTON, 59, died Monday, May 27, 2002 at Kindred Hospital, Houston, Texas, with his wife beside him after a long and heroic battle with pancreatic cancer. He was born on February 5, 1943 in Dallas, Texas to Virginia Woodward and Thomas Reuss Houghton. Reared in Midland, Texas, he graduated from Midland High School. In 1965, he earned an A.B. degree in mathematics from Princeton University where he was designated a University Scholar. In 1968, he graduated first in his class from The University of Texas Law School where he was Articles Editor of the Texas Law Review, and a member of Barristers and Order of the Coif. From 1968 to 1970, he was a law clerk for U.S. District Judge James L. Noel in the United States District Court, Southern District of Texas. In 1970, he joined the law firm of Butler, Binion, Rice, Cook & Knapp as an associate, becoming a partner in 1975. In 1978-79 he assisted in establishing an office in Washington, DC for Butler & Binion. In 1982 he became a founding partner in the law firm of Mayor, Day & Caldwell (now Andrews & Kurth, Mayor, Day, Caldwell & Keeton). From January, 1992 until the present he has practiced law as a solo practitioner. Mr. Houghton was a life member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel. He was a member of the American Bar Association where he served as Chairman of the Oil Committee and of the Ethics Committee and on the Council and as Budget Officer of the Section of Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law. He also served the ABA as Chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the Section of Taxation, and as a member of the Section of Administrative Law and Practice, the Section of Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law, and the Coordinating Group on Energy Law. He was a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Houston Bar Association where he served on the Harris County Law Library Committee and Historical Committee. A member of Christ Church Cathedral, Mr. Houghton served as a Clerk of the Vestry and President of the Board of the Christ Church Cathedral Endowment Fund. He was a past president of the Princeton Alumni Association of Houston. In the early 1970s he played an instrumental role in saving the Pillot and Sweeney Buildings in downtown Houston from demolition. Mr. Houghton's family roots go back to colonial America and early Texas. He was descended from the Fontaine family of South Carolina and the Maury family of Virginia. He was directly descended from two of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" Anglo-American colonists in Texas, Horatio Chriesman and James Hope. He also was directly descended from Alexander Thomson, partner of the empresario, Sterling Robertson, in establishing Robertson's Colony in Texas. His great, great grandfather, the Hon. William H. Woodward, served as a senator in the twentieth and twenty-first sessions of the Texas Legislature representing the twenty-sixth senatorial district. His grandfather, Dudley Kezer Woodward, Jr. served as Chairman of the Board of Regents of The University of Texas from 1944-1953. Mr. Houghton was a member of Allegro, the Coronado Club, the Houston Club, the Forest Club, the Galveston Artillery Club, and the Rotary Club of Houston. In 1968, Mr. Houghton was married to the former Dorothy Knox Howe who survives him. Preceded in death by his father, he also is survived by his mother; his daughters, Adele Birdsall Houghton and Rowena Woodward Houghton Dasch and her husband, Kevin; his brother, Dudley Woodward Houghton, and his wife, Mari, of Austin; his mother-in-law, Dorothy Howe Dupree; his brother-in-law, Harris Milton Howe, and his wife, Jane; his nephews, Knox Briscoe Howe II and Edward Alexander Howe; his aunt, Elizabeth Woodward Jones, and two first cousins, Elizabeth Jones Turner and her husband, David, and Mary Lee Jones Virden and her husband, Robert, all of Dallas. The family wishes to extend its gratitude to Dr. James L. Abbruzzese and his entire staff at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for their excellent care over the past three and one-half years. They also wish to thank Dr. Steve Koch and Allison Mitchell and their staff at Kindred Hospital. They extend special thanks to Mr. Houghton's assistant, Lynn Ketcham, and to Andrew Edwards for their loyalty and support. They also wish to thank Dr. Paul Shu of Princeton, New Jersey, Dr. Philip Bintlif, Dr. Peter Pisters, Dr. Evelyn Chan, Diane Seaton and the many friends who sustained them during Mr. Houghton's long illness. Friends are invited to visit with the family from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, May 30, 2002, at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, May 31, 2002, at Christ Church Cathedral, 1117 Texas Avenue, with The Very Reverend Joe D. Reynolds officiating. Interment will follow at Glenwood Cemetery. Pallbearers will be William H. Murphy, Richard D. Quay, Carl N. Raether, Theodore F. Weiss, David R. Keyes, David C. Holland, H. Clifford Rudisill, Andrew K. Schwartz, Samuel S. Crocker, Marvin H. McMurrey, Knox Briscoe Howe II and Edward Alexander Howe. In lieu of flowers, for those desiring, contributions may be made to the Christ Church Cathedral Endowment Fund, The University of Texas Law School, Princeton University, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, or Bo's Place.