HomeMy WebLinkAboutBilly James Kling, 03.08.1919 - 11.13.2010 Billy James Kling
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kâ-;fti March 8, 1919 â November 13, 2010
Husband, father, grandfather, Texan, member of the Greatest
Generation, soldier, surveyor, engineer, photographer.
Bill Kling died in College Station, Texas on Saturday, November 13,
2010 surrounded by his children. He was preceded in death by his
wife of 60 years, Florace Faye (Gatlin) Kling, father, mother, younger
brother Charles Stewart Kling and granddaughter, Victoria Louise
Kling. He is survived by three sons, Stewart and wife, Irene of Bryan,
Texas, Chris and wife, Janet of Dallas, Texas, and David Kling of
Marble Falls, Texas; and five grandchildren, Justin Briscoe Kling of Houston, Texas, Gatlin
Stewart Kling and wife, Chanae Lynn Kling of Bryan, Texas, Travis James Kling of Houston,
Texas, Brittany Faith Kling of Houston, Texas and Lincoln Matthew Kling attending The Citadel
in Charleston, South Carolina.
Visitation will be Monday, November 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Memorial Funeral Chapel in
College Station. A memorial service celebrating the life of Billy James Kling will be held at
10:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at the First Baptist Church of College Station, Rev. Bill
Magee presiding. Interment will follow at College Station City Cemetery.
Billy James Kling was born March 8, 1919 in Kosse, Limestone County, Texas to Herbert
Edward Kling, an oil well driller, and Martha Louise (Mattie Lou) Stewart, a homemaker. He
attended school in Limestone County travelling on horseback. Bill graduated from Kosse High
School, a three -sport star and debate team member, in the depth of the Great Depression in May
1936. After a short stint as a car hop at the original Pig Stand in Dallas, he began his lifelong
love affair with land, working for John Rother, civil engineer of Bay City Texas, as chainman,
rodman, instrument operator and party chief. He joined the United States Army before the attack
on Pearl Harbor as a private, received a field promotion to major and was discharged in 1946 as
a captain. He served 18 months in the European theater as an artillery survey officer, aerial
observer and photograph interpreter, earning an Air Medal and Bronze Star. He operated the
famous "Red Ball Express ", moving supplies across France from the beachhead to the front lines.
His division met the Russian army at the Elbe River.
Bill married Florace Faye Gatlin on February 19, 1949 in Houston. In the fall of 1949 Bill and
Florace moved to College Station for him to attend the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas. He graduated from Texas A &M in May, 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil
Engineering and three sons, Stewart, Chris and David. He worked for the Missouri Pacific
railroad in Missouri and Kansas until 1955 when his A &M civil engineering professor offered
him the position of chief of the survey division of a newly formed engineering firm in Bryan,
Spencer J. Buchanan and & Associates and Soil Mechanics. Bill and family immediately
returned to College Station, living at the same residence for 54 years. In 1975 Bill and son,
Stewart, formed Kling Engineering & Surveying, a civil engineering and land surveying firm in
Bryan. He went into the office the day before his death.
Bill loved the breadth and depth of Texas and its history. He collected an extensive personal
library of Texas history books and maps. He travelled across the state to historical sites and
studied the prominent and obscure events and circumstances of Texas history. With a thorough
factual knowledge and after careful study and analysis, Bill concluded that General Sam
Houston's victory over Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto was the pivotal military event in
United States history.
Photography was an interest of Bill's first developed in the Army and pursued with passion for
the rest of his life. Bill returned from Germany with a Leica camera lens of unsurpassed quality.
He adopted every advance in image technology and captured images of things he loved and their
surroundings.
Bill Kling's life was directed by an inherent sense of duty centered on God, family, country and
profession. This sense of duty informed his actions as he raised his family, followed his chosen
vocation, walked daily with God and served with a quiet wisdom of uncommon proportions. He
touched lives without contact, changed lives without intention, influenced without meddling,
guided without leading, challenged without confronting, and spoke only after thinking.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to the Annual Fund of the Texas State Historical
Association, 1155 Union Circle #311580, Denton, TX 76203 -5017, supporttexashistory.org,
(940) 369 -5200.
Condolences may be left at www.memorialfuneralchapel.corn
Published in The Bryan- College Station Eagle from November 15 to November 16, 2010
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