JOHN GENE CARVER, 85, of Plano, TX died Oct. 28,
20221 at home. He chose to be cremated and stay
with his wife, Brenda, to be later buried with
her.
Mr. Carver was born Oct. 12, 1936, in Gorman, TX,
to Arlie Madison Carver and Willie Virginia Hall
(RHS-1932). He served in the Naval Reserves from
1954 until being honorably discharged in 1962. He
was married to Brenda Genell Dyer at the First
Baptist Church of Denison in Dec. of 1963.
John attended elementary & junior high school in
Ranger, TX before his family moved to Tyler where
he graduated from Tyler High in 1954. He then
attended Southern Methodist University where he
joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity and graduated
in 1960 with a BS in Civil Engineering. John
enjoyed playing sports growing up. He played
defensive end for Ranger and Tyler football
teams and joined the swimming and bowling
intramural teams while at SMU.
John also began working at an early age. At 11
he delivered papers for the Ranger Daily Times,
and at 14 he worked at the Piggy Wiggly his
father managed. The next summer he opened his
own Gulf Service Station. After moving to Tyler
in 1952, John began umpiring baseball games and
working for C J White, a local Civil Engineer.
Mr. White became an important figure to John,
ultimately influencing him to attend SMU and
become a Civil Engineer himself. After grad-
uation John was employed by the Katy Railroad
in Denison as Assistant Bridge Engineer. After
obtaining his Texas Professional Engineering
license, John accepted a position as head of
the Structural Engineering Department for Davis
& Associates, Consulting Engineers, in Dallas.
By April 1970, John & Brenda decided to settle
in Plano, TX so John opened his own Consulting
Engineering business in Dallas, which he operated
until Sep. 2019. In addition to operating a
profitable engineering practice, he also began
buying, selling, and leasing residential and
commercial properties and still found time to
write five books, publishing and marketing four
of them. John loved problem solving and meeting
the challenges of engineering & managing properties.
John grew up Southern Baptist and was a faithful
member of the First Baptist Church in Plano. He
regularly attended both the Ranger High and Tyler
High reunions and kept in close contact with many
Ranger, Tyler, and Kappa Sigma/SMU friends. John
had an excellent memory and loved telling stories
of his childhood and early adult years. He enjoyed
coaching his son John's baseball teams, and helping
coach and attending the games of his grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother
Don Carver (RHS-1957), and his sister Linda Carver
Rushing (RHS-1961).
He is survived by his wife, two children, daughter
Renee and husband Rejean Plante of Plano, son John
M. Carver and wife Erica of Lucas, and four grand-
children, William Baker of Florida, Evelyn Baker
of Chicago, Caroline Carver of Lucas, & Leah Baker
of Austin.