David James Webster

David James Webster, beloved husband, father, brother, grandfather, and friend, passed away peacefully at home on July 2nd surrounded by his family, following a courageous battle with brain cancer. He was 65.

David was born in Oxnard, California in 1960, the son of Captain Dean Webster and Mary Lois Webster. He spent his childhood moving around the country alongside his eight siblings, a tight-knit unit known for causing mischief on Navy bases and fielding their own fiercely competitive Little League teams. In 1974, the family settled in Corpus Christi, Texas, a place that would remain home for much of his life.

He attended King High School in Corpus Christi, where he played varsity tennis, and then Texas A&M University in College Station, where he studied petroleum engineering and met Mary Jane, his wife of 42 years.

David and Mary Jane had three children: Katie, Andrew, and Kevin. A family man through and through, instructive yet playful, he never limited his guidance to his own kids. He was Uncle Wavehead, hurling his gleeful nieces and nephews into the waves of Corpus Christi Bay; he was Coach Dave to the dozens of girls and boys he coached in soccer; and he was Papa Bonk to the grandchildren he chased with SuperSoakers around the Atlanta suburbs after moving there in 2023 to be closer to them. With his booming laugh, constant smile, and radiant positivity, David lit up every place lucky enough to have him in it.

Over a distinguished career as a petroleum engineer (more than 40 years in the industry, including over 30 at Suemaur Exploration), David earned a reputation for technical excellence, steady leadership, and unwavering integrity. Colleagues called him the finest engineer they had ever worked with, and a man whose word was his bond. But what many remember just as vividly is his generosity as a teacher: one colleague kept, for decades, a file of the impromptu lessons David had given him over the years, and to this day cannot bring himself to throw a single page away.

David approached everything with remarkable energy. A gifted athlete from boyhood, he was never one to sit still for long. In his 40s and 50s, while living in Fort Worth, he took up the "casual" hobby of marathons and triathlons, even completing Ironman races across the country. True to his humble nature, he rarely mentioned the outcomes of these races; it was only later, unearthing boxes of medals during a move, that his family discovered how often he had won.

That same spirit carried into his love of travel: always active, always shared. He biked across the hills of Provence, hiked the peaks of the Alps, sailed off the coast of Spain, and motorcycled over the Argentine Andes. He had a gift for connecting with people from all

walks of life and rarely went anywhere without striking up a conversation. More often than not, he left with a new friend.

Above all, David was a man of faith who lived his beliefs through action. His children, siblings, colleagues, and friends looked to him as a moral compass: he had an uncommon ability to do what was right, even when it was difficult, inconvenient, or unseen. In every part of his life, he remained true to himself, his values, and his faith.

That constancy never wavered, not even at the end. When David was diagnosed with glioblastoma, his first concern was whether he might one day become a burden to the people he loved. Instead, he spent the next two years teaching, by example, the values of grace, generosity, perseverance, acceptance, and finding joy in the everyday. He kept attending the daily 12:15 Mass at St. Thomas. He walked 100 miles on the Camino de Santiago. And even in his final weeks, he was on the phone with an old friend working through an engineering problem, and still insisting on unloading the dishwasher.

David was the same man to everyone who knew him: father, coach, colleague, friend. Those who loved him are left not with a memory to keep but an example to follow, one he taught the only way he knew how: by living it, all the way to the end.

David is survived by his wife, Mary Jane Hatch Webster; his children, Katie, Andrew (Sara), and Kevin Webster; two grandchildren, Graham and Niamh Webster; seven siblings, Jeff (Lori) Webster, Scott (Lolli) Webster, Susan (Mike) Rourke, Amy (Wayne) Pesek, Rob (Alli) Webster, Nancy Webster, and Jay (Lea) Webster; sister-in-law Cathy Webster (wife of the late Joel Webster); numerous nieces and nephews; and his beloved and very spoiled dog, Cow.

Family and friends are invited to celebrate David at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Decatur, Georgia on Saturday, July 11th at 10:00am. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Cross Catholic Outreach or a charity of choice.