Julian E. "Hank" Kastrop's Obituary
Services for Julian E. “Hank” Kastrop, 98, of Longview, Texas will be 2pm, Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at Rader Funeral Home in Longview with the Rev. Dr. Keith Rothra officiating. Interment will follow services at Memory Park Cemetery in Longview. Mr. Kastrop passed away Saturday, April 22, 2017 at his home in Longview.
Mr. Kastrop was born in Sealy, Texas Sept. 29, 1918 on a family farm and later his parents took him to San Antonio, Texas for his preschool days. They later moved to Houston where he finished elementary, junior and high school. He worked his way through four years at the University of Texas at Austin where he earned a BS Degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1941. He worked for the old Humble Oil & Refining Company in West Texas and in Southern Louisiana until receiving an officer’s commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He spent nearly three years in the Pacific Theater during WWII in Underwater Harbor Detection and reached the rank of Lieutenant. Upon returning to the states at the end of the war he joined the Gulf Publishing Company as engineering editor of the World Oil magazine. He published an early study of the petroleum possibilities in Cuba (the year before Castro).
In 1955 he was appointed Editor of the Petroleum Engineer International Magazine headquartered in Dallas, Texas. His technical papers during 21 years in worldwide oil and gas operations fill several volumes. He was the first to report engineering data on thermal oil recovery and initiated the first international drilling rig directory He was a popular speaker on international oil and gas operations forecasts.
He was president of the International Petroleum writers Association and served on the Board of Directors of the Dallas Engineers Club and was an officer for many years of the Dallas Petroleum Engineers Club. He has been a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers since 1939 and holds the honorary position in the Legion of Honor.
He retired in December 1988 at the age of 70 as Executive Vice President of Hydro-Seal Valve Company of Kilgore, Texas. He joined Hydro-Seal in 1975 as a partner with his brother who founded the company in 1955. He established distributors in seven foreign countries and was active in technical developments of pressure-relief valves, personnel development, financial planning and marketing. He was a member of the Texas Association of Business and headed its State Affairs Committee for a year.
Shortly after moving to Longview in 1976, he designed and served as builder of his own home and helped organize a community homeowners association. In 1978, he founded a neighborhood volunteer fire department he headed for 28 years. He has always been active in politics throughout his professional career and especially throughout his retirement. He was conservative in his views regarding local, state and national governments.
Mr. Kastrop is survived by his son Kye and his wife Karen of Desoto, Texas, two step-daughters and their spouses: Joanne and Greg Abernathy of Cocoa, Florida, Lucy and Cecil Maxwell of Longview, two granddaughters: Kristin Minden of Wylie, Texas, Kourtney Rainey of Arlington, Texas, step granddaughter Cassandra Abernathy of Cocoa, FL and two step-grandsons: Justin Lee and Jacob Ross Maxwell of Longview.
He was preceded in death by his step-father and step-mother, William P. and Altha Phenicie and his first wife of 49 years Alice Middleton, his son Kenneth P. Kastrop, his brother Robert R Kastrop of Kilgore as well as his late wife of 17 years Shirley H. Kastrop who passed away on March 16, 2008.
Memorials may be made to Restoring Joy Ministries 214 E. Glade Ave., Gladewater, Texas 75647.
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