William "Bill" Witcher

1931 - 2025

William Robert Witcher, of Austin, Texas, known to friends and family as Bill, died peacefully on September 24.
He was born in 1931 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the only child of John Tandy Witcher and Mary Smith Witcher, who raised him alongside his first cousin Fay Louise Smith. He was a graduate of Central High School in Tulsa where he was a member of the golf team, and continued his education under an ROTC scholarship at the University of Oklahoma. There, he studied geology and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science and began his service at the Aberdeen Proving Ground on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. At Aberdeen, he was instrumental in forming a golf team as part of programming for the newly built Ruggles Golf Course. Upon fulfillment of his service, work opportunities took him to El Paso, and eventually Houston, Texas where he raised three boys. His sons recall highlights of those years: games of catch in the yard, camping trips, downhill skiing in Colorado, and weekends on Lake Travis where their father taught them to waterski and fish, all experiences that shaped them and that they continue to carry with them today.
Bill married Aurye Lynn Walton April 19, 1991, on the Cypress Point Golf Course in Pebble Beach, California, and they embarked on a joyful life together for the next 34 years. They enjoyed traveling together, driving, and becoming familiar with special places in Europe, Canada, and the US. They shared five adventurous summers at a San Francisco Russian Hill apartment with a stunning view of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Other favorite destinations included New York City, Southern France, Italy, Switzerland, and Paris.
Sophisticated, intelligent, and thoughtful, Bill immersed himself in various specific passions, which included architecture, golf, reading, dining, and exotic plants. He nurtured specimen-sized cycads, orchids, elk-horn ferns, clivias, and agapanthus and was devoted to their care, protecting them whenever the temperature threatened to drop to a near freeze by moving them inside regardless of how large they had grown.
Bill's knowledge and interest in architecture led him and Lynn to partner with Austin-based architect Mell Lawrence to plan and conceive their contemporary West Lake Hills residence. This ingeniously designed, exquisite, contemporary limestone home received a Texas Society of Architects Design Award in 2016. It reflected Bill's refined, yet restrained character, and was the perfect place to spend his final decade active in reading, solving sudoku puzzles, yard work, visits with family, and overall enjoyment of life.
An avid golfer in his younger years, he never lost his love of the game and followed the PGA tour closely. Father's Day telephone calls were usually brief as the holiday almost always fell in the final days of the U.S. Open.
Friends and family will remember Bill's impeccable manners, cautious nature, sense of humor, and gentle spirit. Loyal and kind hearted, he will be greatly missed and memories of him will be cherished by his wife and family. He is survived by his wife Lynn, sons Robert L. Witcher (Hadley) of Radnor, Pennsylvania, David G. Witcher of Grapevine, and Mark W. Witcher (Lisa) of Houston, stepson Gregory Mundy (Michelle) of Austin, grandchildren Mary, Reece, Scott, Hannah, Harrison, James Avery, and Cora Witcher, and step grandchildren Kendall and Benjamin Mundy.
Service and interment at historic Oakwood Cemetery in Austin will be private. In lieu of flowers, friends may make contributions in Bill's memory to any charitable organization of their choice.