Dr. Ted Powers
Posted By Lake Shore Funeral Home On June 9, 2021 @ 12:49 pm In Obituaries | 3 Comments
Dr. Joseph Theodore Powers, our Papa, passed away Friday, May 28, 2021 at the age of 99.
Funeral Service: 10:00 a.m. Thursday, July 22, 2021 at the First Methodist Church of Waco, 4901 Cobbs Drive, with Pastor Wayne Williams officiating
He was born May 1, 1922 and was adopted from the Edna Gladney Home in San Antonio by Lucy Grace and Elijah Marion Powers. He was raised in the hill country of South Texas, around Barksdale, and attended public school in Rocksprings. His education continued at The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Education, and a Doctorate in Education and Educational Psychology (dual major). His college career was interrupted when he served in the United States Marine Corps from 1942 to 1945.
On September 11, 1945, he married Jane Kathleen Pope. In a high school play she’d played a character named Judy, which he started calling her and she still goes by to this day. They were married for 75 years.
After the war, the Powers returned to Austin where he finished college and served as a teaching fellow at UT until 1954. They then moved to Waco, where he began a 60-year-long professorship at Baylor University. From 1968 to 1988, he served as chairman of the Department of Health and Human Performance.
His many civic endeavors include serving on the Board of Directors for many organizations including the YMCA, the Boy Scouts of America, the American Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, the Waco Parks Department, the Waco Little League, and the First Methodist Church of Waco, where he also taught Sunday School for many years. He was also responsible for bringing the first ever Special Olympics to Texas.
Papa was preceded in death by his parents; and his brother Bob.
He’s survived by his loving wife Judy; son, Gary; daughter, Shari and husband, Tim Roberts; grandchildren, Lauren Powers, Katie Powers, Joey Powers and wife Chelsey, Ashley Smith and husband, Thomas Huisking, James Roberts and wife, Lori; eight great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and beloved niece, Sandy Phillips of New Braunfels.
Honorary Pallbearers are Faculty members, past and present, of Baylor’s Department of Health and Human Performance.
Ours was the best husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather…we’ll see you down the road, Papa.
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Condolences for the family of “Dr. Ted Powers”
Please accept my condolences at this difficult time. Although I did not know Dr. Powers, I feel my late mother was probably kin to Mrs. Powers, as she was also a Pope, born and raised in Barksdale.
Dr. Powers was my absolutely favorite professor at Baylor University. He was always ready for a game, any game. I have so many great memories of playing Dr. Powers in Handball. I graduated from Baylor University in 1959 so I was not on the campus very often after graduation. When I was on the Baylor University campus the first person I wanted to see was Dr. Powers. He had a tremendous positive affect on my life and career. I was at the same junior high/middle school in the Galena Park ISD for 39 years, principal of Northshore Middle School for 25 of those years.
I am now 86 years of age and still missing Ted Powers. My deepest condolences to Dr. Powers’ family.
I sincerely hope with all my heart that Dr. Powers is someone I will see in Heaven.
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So sorry for the families loss of such a great educated
Kind man! Thinking of your family Shari ❤️