Stanley Dempsey Bull

Austin - Stanley Dempsey Bull, born in Amarillo, Texas, on April 23, 1934, passed peacefully on November 20, 2023, from complications with pneumonia in Austin, Texas at the age of 89. Stanley was proud to say he was from the Panhandle of Texas, where he graduated from the Class of '52 at Amarillo High School. Stanley was a track and football standout in high school and was voted most popular in his class throughout junior and senior high school. Stanley was recruited and put on scholarship to run track at TCU in Ft. Worth before being encouraged by the football staff to join the nationally ranked TCU football squad, where he played fullback and end.

After graduating from TCU in 1956, he married his high school sweetheart, Sheila Starks, before joining J&L Steel as a sales trainee in Pittsburgh, PA. He then took a leave of absence from J&L Steel to serve two and a half years in the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, based out of Bainbridge, Maryland. The importance of his Navy service had less to do with official cruises in the Mediterranean and more to do with the base commander wanting to keep Stanley active and engaged as a member of the base's very competitive football team.

After completing his Navy service, Stanley returned to J&L Steel, where he was assigned to make oilfield sales in the Laurel, MS, and Tulsa, OK area before taking a job that moved the entire family from Mississippi to Westbury neighborhood in southwest Houston, TX, in 1964. He spent the rest of his sales career with different companies in Houston, focusing on pipe sales, but more importantly, making friends and developing lifelong relationships wherever he went. These joined his lifelong friends from junior and senior high and then at TCU to become a network of friends who were always there to support him. Stanley's most significant relationship was his introduction and eventual marriage to Ruth Crow Firsching of Hondo, TX, in May 1981, to whom he would stay married for over 42 years.

Stanley was preceded in death by his loving daughter, Kelly Smith Murley. He is survived by his wife, Ruth Crow Firsching of Austin, TX; his son Blaine Bull and wife, Myra Bull of Austin, TX; Chris Bull and wife, Sally Bull of Coto De Caza, CA; step-daughter Tracy Firsching and Brian Birzer of Austin, TX; step-son Don Firsching and wife, Laura Issen of Austin, TX; step-son Jay Firsching and wife, Amelia Whatley of Dallas, TX; and step-daughter Dana Pickens and husband, John Pickens of Shreveport, LA. He is also survived by sixteen wonderful grandchildren and five great-grandchildren who greatly loved their grandfather.

A celebration of Stanley's life will be scheduled for the spring of '24, and for people wanting to make a remembrance gift, these can be directed to TCU, earmarked for the school's scholarship programs at 2800 South University Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76129.