Carl Stroud

One of Thornton's well respected and successful sons, Carl Ray Stroud, 71, of Clear Lake, Texas, passed away on June 1, 2010. He will be laid to rest in Thornton which he described as an idyllic place for a kid to grow up in the 1940s and 50s. Carl also stated that he and one of his cousins, his closest friend, did not know that time of their childhood in Thornton would be the best years of their lives. Born in Lampasas on October 28, 1938, to Arthur James "Buck" and Dorothy (Cannon), Carl Ray was reared in Thornton by his maternal grandparents. His grandparents were Myrtle (Clark) and Douglas Richardson, James Arthur Stroud, Sr. and Marcus and Bertie (Hamilton) Cannon all of Thornton. Descended from several old Limestone County families, Carl was extremely proud of his family heritage. Educated at Thornton ISD, Carl Ray attended all grades there and graduated salutatorian of his class in May 1957. He was honored in 2008 when he was chosen by the Thornton High School Ex-Students Association as its Home Coming King. After high school, Carl attended Southern Methodist University, were he was active in Kappa Mu Epsilon, Phi Eta Sigma, Math Honor Society, and Phi Beta Kappa, national honor fraternity. He graduated from SMU in 1961 majoring in mathematics and German. To earn money as a supplement to his scholarships, Carl substituted as the rural mail carrier on the Thornton route when his grandfather, Marcus Cannon, took his vacation days. He learned to drive in his grandfather's Willys jeep. Upon graduation from SMU he applied for US Air Force Officer Training and was accepted. Afterward he was assigned Grade of 2nd Lieutenant and was sent to the University of Washington where he received a Bachelor of Science in Atmospheric Sciences. He was then assigned to Biggs AFB, El Paso as a Weather Officer, Detachment 16 of the 9th Weather Squadron. He received a promotion to 1st Lieutenant in November 1963. On December 23, 1967, Carl Ray Stroud and Miss Glenda Joyce Van Zandt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor J. Van Zandt of Blackwell, were joined in marriage. They became the parents of one son, Marcus James Stroud. After serving in the Air Force, Carl's entire career was spent working for the NASA Manned Space Center (JSC) in Houston as a manager of contractor programmers who built one-of-a-kind software to be installed in the Mission Control System. He later worked in the Trajectory portion of the Mission Program used by the flight controllers to control the mission, coding some of the displays that the flight controllers used on their screens. On February 28, 1991, he received NASA's 30 Year Service Award for faithful service. He retired from NASA in 1998. A gruff but loveable guy and an avid sports fan, he followed SMU Football and deplored the demise of the Southwest Conference. The St. Louis Cardinals had no greater fan. Carl's love of baseball plus his encyclopedic knowledge of its history and player and team stats was instrumental in the formation of The Texas Pineriders Fantasy League Baseball Team during his retirement. He liked to travel as long as he had access to the box scores during baseball season. He was an expert n WWII history and eagerly followed his son's music career. Carl was preceded in death by his parents, grandparents and his dear aunt, Marcus Raye Stanford. He is survived by his beloved wife of 42 years, their son, Marc Stroud, Webster; and cousins Suzann, Dan and Scott Magruder of Richmond, TX; Mark, Grace and Emma Stanford of College Station, TX; Erin, Rainey, Ava and Sonny Bara of Austin, TX; and Carolyn Sue Raborn Kizer of Houston, TX and many, many friends. Visitation will be held at Crowder Funeral Home, Webster, TX on Thursday, 7-9 pm. Services will be held at Blair-Stubbs Funeral Chapel in Thornton, TX at 1:00 pm Saturday with burial in Thornton. In lieu of flowers, the family request that memorials be sent payable to the Fisher House Foundation, Inc., 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 420, Rockville, MD 20850 on behalf of Carl Ray Stroud for the Houston Fisher House. The Fisher Houses are located at VA Medical Centers. They provide free lodging for veterans and/or their families when the veteran is referred to the Center for treatment and the family must travel. Donations are tax deductible. Memorials may also be sent to the Thornton Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 157, Thornton, TX 76687-0157 or to the Thornton Volunteer Fire Department. Glenda, Marc and the family would like to thank their wonder friends and Carl's caregivers who provided the needed support to them and to Carl during his long, arduous illness.