Daniel J. Tindol, a retired teacher and school administrator, died May 30 in Brownwood after a long illness. He was 94. A memorial service will be held 2:00 PM Friday, June 2, 2017 at the Heartland Funeral Home.
Known to his parents and siblings as “Dee,” his numerous relatives as “D.J.,” and everyone else as “Dan,” he was born July 5, 1922 in Cadiz to Daniel J. and Annie May Ray Tindol. He grew up on the family farm in Live Oak County and graduated from George West High School. He joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942, and graduated from the School of Aviation Medicine as a flight surgeon’s assistant. He served throughout the war as a trainer of medics, rising to the rank of sergeant.
After the war he entered Howard Payne College and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1949. He worked briefly at Halliburton, but spent most of his years in science at the DuPont plant near Bloomington, Texas. During this time he married Edna Erle McCorkle, the sister of his old friend Robert McCorkle, and had two sons, Robert and Mike.
In 1961 he decided to change careers and found a job teaching science at Santa Anna High School. He completed additional educational requirements for teaching and school administration in his spare time, and three years later became the high school principal at Valley Mills Independent School District. He completed a master’s degree in education during this period, became superintendent at Blackwell Consolidated School District, and came to Brownwood in 1969 as a high school physics and biology teacher. He retired from teaching in 1987 after several years with the Bangs Independent School District. In addition, he taught occasionally as an adjunct science instructor at Howard Payne University.
He married Mary Ann Sullivan Clark on June 5, 1998. Dan and Mary Ann enjoyed traveling, often visiting his son Robert in Los Angeles, Mary Ann’s brother in Hawaii, and various other relatives and other exotic locales including Jamaica, England and Ireland. He remained quite active until he was in his 90s, and even after his health declined over the last couple of years, never lost his enthusiasm for living the fullest life possible.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Ann Tindol of Brownwood; sons, Robert Tindol of Guangzhou, China, and Mike Tindol (Nancy) of Comanche; stepdaughter, Mary Jo Deaver of Huntsville, Ala.; stepsons, Josh Clark and Jared Clark of Fort Worth; five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and one great-great grandchild.
He was predeceased by his first wife, Edna Erle Tindol, his parents and his four siblings.
Memorials be made to the South Texas Children’s Home in Beeville, Texas.
Condolences may be left at www.heartlandfuneralhome.net
