Sandra Kay Eckhart and Houston Ralph Flournoy

HOUSTON RALPH FLOURNOY, son of WILMA B. CURPHEY and MELVILLE HOUSTON FLOURNOY, was born September 26, 1929 in Missouri,⁶⁸⁹⁹ and died February 28, 2015 in La Habra, Orange, California.⁴⁷¹⁷ He is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Lincoln County, Kansas.⁴⁵⁶

He married SANDRA KAY ECKHART on February 6, 1953 in Missouri.⁸⁰³⁷ She was born October 31, 1931.

• Descendant Reports
  • Edward Erwin Descendant Report (Ancestor of Houston R. Flournoy)
  • William Campbell Descendant Report (Ancestor of Houston R. Flournoy)
  • Jacob Clements Descendant Report (Ancestor of Houston R. Flournoy)

Orange County Register, March 6, 2015⁴⁷¹⁷

Flournoy, Houston Ralph passed away on February 28, 2015 in the company of family at his home in La Habra, CA at 85 years of age. Born in 1929 during the first year of the great depression, he spent his childhood in urban Kansas City, Missouri. The son of Melville Houston Flournoy and Wilma Curphey Flournoy - Houston is survived by his wife of 62 years, his son, daughter, four granddaughters, step granddaughter and preceded in death by an infant son.

During childhood he was one of the last generations to contract Polio and subsequently recovered leading an active and energetic life. Although money was not plentiful growing up; he had fond memories as a teen in Kansas City with close friends watching the Yankee farm team through the fence and driving around town in the Model T that he purchased with three other boys resulting in having to take turns when going on dates.

He graduated Salutatorian from East High School in Kansas City Missouri (1947) and went on to earn a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri, Columbia (1951) with Tau Beta Pi honors. Out of college, Houston was hired by Phillips Petroleum and went on to a 38 year career first working in their oil refineries and research facilities then subsequently moving to southern California in 1964 to be one of the first field application engineers with expertise in helping companies in the Western United States manufacture and develop products made from new plastic technologies. After retiring, Houston continued his career working for Liquibox as a quality manager utilizing his many years of experience in the plastics industry.

He was married in 1953 after sweeping the wife to be off her feet with his dry humor and good looks. In those early days of marriage where money was tight; his favorite date was the simple pleasure of spending an afternoon together washing their car in the driveway on a summer afternoon.

Houston was an engineer at heart and able to repair or diagnose anything broken. This aptitude carried over to his interest in restoring and repairing antique radios. Traveling was a great pleasure for Houston with trips in the 70's and 80's to China and Russia in addition to family car trips to Mexico and National Parks. Although he was an avid bridge player, his humble and modest demeanor forced family to read about his success in his club news-letters. He was also an active member of Fullerton First Presbyterian Church since the 1960's and had served as a deacon.

Houston will be greatly missed however his legacy will always be remembered.