Stephen Allan Wilhite, Jr.

Stephen Allan Wilhite, Jr., 83, a resident of Seguin, Texas and formerly a resident of Baytown and Austin, Texas, passed away on Sunday, November 12, 2023, in Beeville, Texas.

Stephen was born at Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone, on January 12, 1940, where his father was employed by the Canal Zone Administration. In 1948, the Wilhite family moved to Baytown, Texas, where Stephen attended Cedar Bayou Junior High and High School before graduating in 1957 from Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown. During his school years, Stephen was active in Boy Scouts, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout, along with his father and brothers, and working as a camp counselor at Camp Strake.

Following high school, he graduated from Lee College in Baytown, in 1959. He then joined the U.S. Air Force Aviation Cadet program and attended navigator training as a 2^nd Lieutenant in 1960. His first major assignment took him to Evreux Air Base in France, where he served as a navigator on C-130 aircraft, flying missions to locations throughout Western Europe, Africa, the Middle East and West Asia. In 1963, Stephen was transferred to Travis AFB in California, where his flight plans took him to various locations in Asia, especially Viet Nam, as a navigator in C-130’s and C-141’s. Stephen’s USAF career took him to 80 countries and Antarctica during his career, accumulating more than 10,000 hours of flying time. Also, during his USAF career, Stephen graduated with a Bachelor of Geographic Studies Degree from the University of Nebraska in 1972 and a Master of Aeronautical Science Degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Stephen retired from the USAF in 1981 at Homestead AFB, Florida, with the rank of Major.

Following his retirement from the Air Force, Stephen was employed at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport near Baltimore, Maryland, as an Airport Operations Manager, for nearly twenty years. In 2000, Stephen retired from BWI and relocated to Austin, Texas, where he worked in partnership with his younger brother, Barry Wilhite, in the repair and maintenance of automation equipment, until Barry’s death in 2004 in Austin.

Stephen Wilhite was pre-deceased by his father, Stephen Allan Wilhite, Sr. (1992) and mother, Marion Golding Wilhite (2017), both of Beeville; and his brother, Barrett Ellis Wilhite of Round Rock, Texas.

Stephen is survived by his daughters, Kimberly Wilhite and Stacy Wilhite and their mother, Gayle, of Madison, Alabama; brother, Jim Wilhite and wife, Pam, of Fredericksburg, Texas; sister, Mary Ann Featherston of Beeville, Texas; sister, Laura Jean Marshall and husband, Monte, of Fredericksburg, Texas; nieces, Mary Jane Covington of Houston, Texas and Rebecca Featherston Smith of Portland, Texas; and nephews, Travis Featherston of Irvine, California, Wesley Featherston of Keller, Texas, Brian Marshall of Houston, Texas and James Marshall of Austin, Texas.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at the First United Methodist Church in Beeville, Texas. Burial will be at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas, at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, November 16, 2023.

In lieu of gifts or flowers, the family has requested that memorial donations be made to the Military Officers Association of America Scholarship Fund, 201 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314 or to the Sam Houston Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, 2225 N Loop W, Houston, TX 77008.

The family wishes to express their gratitude to the doctors and staff at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and to the staff at Hacienda Oaks Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and New Century Hospice, both in Beeville.