Clarence Harold Deteau's Obituary
Clarence Harold Deteau was born November 20, 1926, at Hillsboro Hospital in Waco, Texas. He was the only son of Paul Deteau, Jr. and Ollie Carpenter Deteau. In the late 1800's, his grandfather, Paul Deteau migrated from Alsace Lorraine, France to Waco, Texas where he was employed as an engineer.
Harold graduated from Waco High School in 1945, where he lettered in baseball, track, and basketball. While on the basketball team his team went to the state play-offs three times. He was chosen as a member of the All State Basketball team. He was offered basketball scholarships to the University of Texas, A&M, and Baylor but decided to enter the Army.
Immediately upon high school graduation he entered the U.S. Army where he had basic training at Camp Fannin in Tyler, Texas. He was shipped overseas to Italy where he was assigned as a medic to the 61st Station Hospital in Livorno, Italy.
After serving his country in World War II, he attended Baylor University for one year and then entered the school of Architecture at Texas Tech University. There were 147 Architectural students that started in his class and only 13 graduated with him in 1952.
During his studies at Baylor, he met and married Rita Pat McMeans in 1947. They were married for 22 years until her death of leukemia in 1969. They had four children; Diana, Richard, Donna, and Denise.
After graduation from Texas Tech's architecture school, he and his family moved to Sherman, Texas where he practiced until 1954. He moved his practice to Longview to work as a partner with Mr. Lila Kelly. After Mr. Kelly's death in 1963 Harold maintained his own practice in Longview for 51 years.
The numerous projects he's done over the course of his career include the ten story First National Bank Building, numerous schools for the Longview School District, as well as Hallsville, Tatum, and Gilmer School Districts, a dozen or more medical clinics, retail businesses, Stemco Mfg. and 147 Gibson stores. He started the Wal-Mart chain in 1967 after being chosen by Sam Walton to design his first Wal-Mart stores. He designed numerous projects for Western Sizzlin, Roadrunner Convenience stores and over 50 projects for the Brookshires Food Stores. In addition to his commercial projects, he designed many custom homes.
Harold's Community Service included being a charter member of the Cherokee Kiwanis Club, United Fund, President of the PTA Father's Club, Plumbing Board for the City of Longview and member of the Longview Chamber of Commerce. His professional associations were many. He was a charter member of the Northeast Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture where he served as Chapter Director, State Director and President. He was a member of the Texas Society of Architects and chapter representative to numerous state conventions. He was a member of the American Institute of Architects, attending and representing the Northeast Texas Chapter at conventions in Hawaii, Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Dallas, and Phoenix. He is a now a member emeritus of all these organizations.
He was an active member of the First Baptist Church: on the board of Deacons, Sunday School Director, President of the Choir, and Training Union teacher. He and Shirley started the Single Adult Sunday School department in 1977 and served with this group for twenty years. He donated his services to many building projects at First Baptist Church.
Clarence Harold Deteau was preceded in death by his first wife, Rita Pat, his daughter Denise Marie and his parents. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Shirley Hall Deteau; his children, Diana and son-in-law Dr. Dean Horton of Abilene; son and daughter in law, Richard and Diane Deteau of Plano; daughter Donna Deteau of Denver; son Mark Deteau; daughter and son-in-law Stephanie and Randy Park of San Antonio; son and daughter-in-law, Brad and Stephanie Sackerman of Boise, Idaho; twelve grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren.
A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held Sunday, April 28, 2013, 1:30 PM, at First Baptist Church Longview. Memorials may be made to the W. Morris Ford Foundation at First Baptist Church.
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