Horace Coke Wilson, Jr.

Horace "Coke" Wilson, Jr. of Austin, Texas, passed away at the age of 93 on October 31,2023. Conceived on the eve of the Great Depression, he was born on July 11, 1930 in Houston, Texas to Horace Coke Wilson, Sr. and Ileta Violet Burt.

Coke grew up in a red brick house near the corner of West Alabama and Woodhead in a busy household that included his older sister Wendy, his Aunt Pearl Wilson, and his cousins Martha and Kenneth. His father kept a dairy cow in an empty field at the corner of West Alabama and Shepherd. He often expressed conflicted emotions about the joys of churning butter with his Aunt Pearl.

He attended Lamar High School in Houston before leaving early to attend Austin College in Sherman, Texas. After graduating from the University of Houston in May 1953 he married his high school sweetheart, Margie Sue Stauffer on June 5. Very shortly thereafter he was drafted into the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. A sledding accident resulting in a broken back led to an honorable discharge. Coke and his young family moved to Austin where he attended The University of Texas School of Law, graduating in 1959.

Upon completing law school, they relocated to Houston where he began his career at Scurlock Oil Company, later becoming a named partner at the patent firm, Pravel, Wilson and Gambrell. He loved his role as a law professor at both The University of Houston Law Center and The University of Texas School of Law.

The sudden and tragic death of Margie in August 1961 drastically changed his life leaving this ambitious, young attorney with a newborn son and two children under the age of seven. In December 1962 Coke married Dr. Geraldine Sagebiel. They shared 45 years together, first in Houston and later on a beautiful hilltop in Dripping Springs.

In the late 60's he discovered his passion for sailing, leading to many adventures and shenanigans on a variety of vessels with friends and family for the remainder of his life. There are so many memories of adventures with Coke: building a 38' ferro-cement yacht in the backyard with his neighbor Phil Buchanan, straddling mountain passes in the Rocky Mountains in his old army jeep, dropping the winch overboard in the Virgin Islands, sliding down snow banks to get to Cascade Lodge outside Durango, the list goes on and on. "Safety first" was not a rule that Coke lived by.

Coke was a voracious reader and enthusiastic conversationalist, always wanting to know more about the people and the world around him.

He was predeceased by his first wife, Margie, his parents and his sister Wendy Beecher. He is survived by his former wife, Geraldine S Wolfe, his children Karen Wilson of Santa Fe, NM, Cliff Wilson (Ruth) of Austin, TX, Glen Wilson (Sherry) of Tiki Island, TX and Stephanie Wilson Thomas (Fred) of Centennial, CO, 10 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren, brother-in-laws, Ched Beecher and Michael Sagebiel, sister-in-law, Stephanie Maley and numerous nieces and nephews, and a loving companion who was with him until the end.

Please make memorials to the charity of your choice or to Community First! Village via Mobile Loaves & Fishes, 9301 Hog Eye Road, Suite 950, Austin, TX 78724.