Donald Joseph Weber, 79, of League City, Texas, passed away Monday, March 3, 2025, following a November 2024, diagnosis of an aggressive brain tumor. Don was born in Galveston, Texas on November 9, 1945. He was the older son of Glen and Olga Voigt Weber, children of immigrants from Germany and Ireland. He is survived by his wife of forty years, Ann Blackshire, and by his sister Lois Woodfin and her daughter, residents of Lake Charles, Louisiana; his sister Gale Owens and her three children, residents of League City and Pearland, Texas; Jack Weber and his wife Lynn, and their three children, residents of Friendswood and Pearland, Texas.

Don attended Catholic schools, graduating in 1964 from Kirwin High School in Galveston, now known as O’Connell Preparatory School, as it continues the traditions of Don’s early educational experiences to promote goodness, faith in action, discipline and responsibility in education.

Following his graduation from Kirwin, Don spent his first year of college attending Rutgers College in New Jersey, then transferred to Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Texas, that his sisters had attended earlier. Their grandfather Voigt had left them enough funds to attend Blinn because he grew up in the Brenham area with a large group of related German immigrants and he wanted his grandchildren to experience that German influence.

After his graduation from Blinn in 1966, Don began his studies at the University of Texas in Austin majoring in finance and business administration.

Following his graduation from UT in 1968, Don enjoyed that summer as a reporter for the Hitchcock, TX newspaper where his mother, Olga, regularly appeared with articles about the community. As the country’s interest in the Vietnam War grew for U.S. citizens, Don’s Hitchcock editor provided him an official reporter’s pass that was accepted by the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. With his official acceptance as a legitimate reporter from Hitchcock, he called reports in every day to the Hitchcock readers! As history writers tell even now, this 1968 convention was among the most confrontational political conventions in American history.

Following his summer as a reporter, Don entered the University of Texas Law School in the fall of 1968. A letter written about this time by Jack Fassetta, Commissioner for City of Hitchcock describes Don and his family as residents:

“[Don] and his family bear an excellent reputation in this community as being peaceable, law-abiding, and highly respected citizens. In my opinion this young man would be qualified in all respects to pursue the field of law and to become a member of the Texas State Bar Association ….”

In August of 1971 Don received acceptance to the State Bar of Texas. Just prior to that he had accepted a position as Administrative Assistant to State Senator A. R. “Babe” Swartz a politician, lawyer and lobbyist who served in the Texas House and in the Texas Senate, representing Galveston. Don found the legislative work for Swartz challenging, making him even more interested in politics. That year Don found himself the President of the Galveston County Young Democrats!

Through the early 1970’s Don worked in private practice in Galveston, sharing offices with other lawyers. In 1978 he became a corporate lawyer in Dallas, TX for a public utility company, Lone Star Gas and in 1980 he became General Counsel of Enserch Exploration, an oil and gas exploration company also in Dallas.

Don decided to retire in 1997 to pursue his new interests in development of electronic data systems. After studying for a year at Richland College in Dallas, Texas, on how to collect and use data in electronic programming systems, the first organization he offered to help was the new LIFT program in Dallas created to teach adults how to read and “lift” themselves to new opportunities. One of the principal volunteer workers at LIFT remembered how Don came in and created databases for teachers’ use to track the students and record information necessary to report to state offices and to help solicit volunteers and donations. Over the next five years Don created database systems for another large adult support organization in Dallas and occasionally helped city governments with their attempts to create data systems for such needs as tracking parking systems and participation of volunteers in improvement projects.

Don was a man who respected his family and community so if he knew of a situation where he could help, he volunteered his best efforts, just as his parents had done in their lives.

Don's Celebration of Life video can be viewed by clicking on this link: https://youtu.be/D_gEFgeoJjo

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