William C. Nowlin Jr.

NOWLIN JR., William C. (Bill) January 18, 1949 October 20, 2019 Bill Nowlin was never bored a day in his life. He enjoyed an enormous curiosity and the drive, intellect, and integrity to pursue it. And he was courageous enough to treat every endeavor as an adventure and throw himself into it wholeheartedly. He grew up in Littlefield, Texas, where he became an Eagle Scout and enjoyed playing tuba in the high school band. After graduation in 1967, Bill came to the University of Texas, where he initially majored in physics and marched in his beloved Longhorn Band. A friend transferring from another school asked Bill to pick up a course catalogue for the College of Engineering for him. Bill found the course descriptions fascinating and promptly moved to Engineering. "He was always an engineer," said his wife, Bettye. "He loved to build things," which proved to be an understatement. In graduate school Bill worked at the Applied Research Labs. There he shared an office with Jeff Kodosky, another graduate student who would become his business partner and life-long friend. At the lab Bill and Jeff worked on a large sonar project for the U. S. Navy. They designed interfaces to connect portable instruments measuring underwater acoustics to programmable systems. Bill was the hardware designer, while Jeff wrote the software, and they made a brilliant team. Jeff said that when something wasn't working, Bill would say it was likely the fault of the hardware and Jeff would blame the software, so they were mutually supportive in their debugging efforts. Ultimately, they realized they could build these general-purpose interface boards that could have significant applications beyond their project. In May, 1976, the two young engineers and their supervisor, Jim Truchard, founded National Instruments. They took the company public in 1995 and it has subsequently grown to over 7,000 employees worldwide, with offices in 45 countries, and a market capitalization of $5 billion. At just 47, Bill decided to retire. "I thought he was making a big mistake," said Jeff, "but instead he has done everything he wanted to do." His bucket list included learning the technical aspects of photography. Bill already had a good eye, but his technical mastery, perfected through workshops and travels around the globe for ten years, yielded a portfolio of superb quality. Bill never took a sedentary vacation. His travel, which included every continent, was purposeful and adventuresome. Bill and Bettye undertook to build a New World house overlooking Lake Austin. They didn't set out with a Mayan house in mind, but as plans developed, their love of the lasting nature of that architecture began to influence the design. The result is a home as unique as they are and one in which they and their family and friends feel instantly comfortable and secure. In his book about Texas, James Michener said that when any Texan comes into real money the first thing he wants is a ranch. Bill and Bettye found theirs near Llano and Bill loved being there. He improved the property considerably, conserving water, planting fruit trees, grazing a few head of cattle, and managing his large flock of laying hens. The Nowlin's have been enormously generous with the organizations they treasure, like The Nature Conservancy, whose science Bill particularly admired. They endowed chairs at the University of Texas in the School of Engineering, and the Art Department in honor of Linda Schele and to support photography programs. Their gifts built the Visitor's Center at the McDonald Observatory in honor of Frank Bash. Most recently, Bill joined Bettye in providing the flagship funding for the much-needed production studio at ZACH. They have been generous donors to organizations too numerous to mention, but they know who they are. A lover of tools and gadgets, Bill never had one of anything, except his wife, Bettye, who was by his side through his year-and-a-half-long illness. He was the son of Elizabeth and Dr. William C. Nowlin, Sr. and the older brother of Jane Canfield. His three daughters, Carla Goodman, Lesley Blessing (Tyler Blessing), and Kathryn Nowlin (Tray Duncan), and grandchildren Alexander Goodman and Fiona Blessing will miss him enormously, as will their friends of longest standing, Jeff and Gail Kodosky, and a host of others. A memorial will be held on November 9th, at 11:00 AM at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 4801 La Crosse Ave, Austin, TX. Memorial gifts may be made to The Nature Conservancy of Texas or the charity of your choice.