William Hafer

William C. Hafer, Jr. entered into eternal rest on Monday, January 14, 2013 at his home in Denton, Texas surrounded by his loved ones. Bill was a valiant warrior in his fight against esophageal cancer diagnosed three months ago. He was born July 21, 1938 to William Chester Hafer, Sr. and Rosa Berger Hafer in San Antonio, Texas.
At a young age, Bill moved to Tulsa with his parents. He attended Tulsa Public Schools and graduated from Tulsa Central High School. He earned his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Refining from the University of Tulsa where he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity and in I.F.C. President's club and on the Dean's Honor Roll. After college and upon joining the work force, he was involved in Research and Development. He quickly moved on to pursue more challenging adventures in process design and project engineering with Engineering and Construction Companies in Dallas and Houston, Texas. As a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Texas, his work included the process design of gas processing plants, sulfur recovery units, refining units and chemical fertilizer plants. His foreign assignments took him to Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., London, Dusseldorf, Germany, Seoul, South Korea, and Greece, as well as work in Canada. Bill retired in 2000 and settled in Denton, Texas. After is retirement, he and Mary traveled extensively.
As a member of FUMC Denton, he was also involved in the Searchers Sunday School Class. Bill was committed to nurturing his grandchildren in God's Word.
Bill is survived by the love of his life, Mary whom he met on a blind date at a Tulsa Boston Av. UMC event and was married six months later in 1969, their daughter Suzanne and her husband, David Baccus of Greenville, TX, one grandson Pierce Thurmond and one granddaughter, Mary Thurmond, both of Greenville, his cousin Darlene Havens of Houston, two sisters-in-law Novella Willis and Carl of Tulsa, OK and Shirley Thompson and Roger of Dale, OK, and a brother-in-law Geary Thompson and Susan of Dale, OK, and several nieces and nephews.
A celebration of Bill's life will be held Thursday, January 17 at the Methodist Church in Denton.