Thomas Gordon Landwermeyer

1929 - 2026

Thomas “Gordon” Landwermeyer, 97, passed away September 24, 2026 in Houston, Texas.

Gordon was born in Terrell Texas in 1929 at an impressive weight of 11 lbs 12 oz, foreshadowing his adult 6’6” frame. Shy of Gordon’s sixth birthday, his father Henry died from influenza, leaving Gordon, his mother Gladys, and older sister Abbie on their own under the shadow of the Great Depression. As a night shift nurse, Gladys creatively used the resources she had, including nearby relatives, to look after Gordon and Abbie.

Gordon began working at the age of 10 delivering fresh milk and was continuously employed until his retirement fifty years later. He traded pre-dawn milk delivery for newspaper delivery, then worked food service jobs throughout high school and college. After high school he attended Texas Military College, then earned his Civil Engineering degree from Texas Tech University. His first professional job started in1950, surveying and staking wells for Suddert Engineering in Midland, Texas. This job ended abruptly in early 1951 when the Selective Service called Gordon to serve in Korea as a Lieutenant in the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Upon discharge from the Army in 1953, Gordon went to work for The Texas Company (Texaco) in Midland, Texas, surveying well sites. Nineteen years later, he caught the eye of a visiting Texaco manager and was recruited to the leadership team in Texaco’s Purchasing department in Houston in 1972, where he worked and enjoyed a successful career until retiring in 1990.

In early 1954, Gordon met Jean through The Oblate Club at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Midland. Known to the parish nuns as the Rosary Romance, because the Saturday evening Rosary was a regular date for them, Gordon and Jean were married at St. Ann’s on July 9th, 1955. Over the next fifteen years they had eight children. They lived a remarkably ordered life in a three-bedroom house just a block from their beloved St. Ann’s, sending the children to the parish school.

After moving to Houston, the Landwermeyers attended St. Edward’s in Spring, then St. Mary’s in Humble, and eventually became one of the founding families of Christ the Good Shepherd, attending Mass in local school cafeterias before the parish owned property. Gordon remained a parishioner of Christ the Good Shepherd throughout his life and was pleased and proud to have children and grandchildren active in CGS parish life, as both he and Jean had been.

After retiring, Gordon contributed his time and talents in a variety of roles. He served the civic association, the water board, and the municipal utility district. He and Jean were active members of the 55 Plus group at church, traveling with them to Hawaii, to Europe, and to the Holy Land. They would often extend those trips to research family history, which greatly interested Gordon in his retirement years.

In addition to these more organized efforts, Gordon enjoyed enriching the lives of those around him in very practical ways. He kept a tool pouch in the trunk of his car, because he never knew what opportunities he might have to help someone he encountered while out and about. He and Jean moved a succession of aging relatives nearby so that they could care for them in their final days. “Looking after them” meant anything: delivering ice cream, filling medicine dispensers, repairing dripping faucets, managing finances, preparing tax returns. “How can I help?” was a guiding principle of Gordon’s.

In recent years, Gordon’s daily proclamation has been, “The Lord has been so good to me!” His memoir begins, “I have had so many blessings by God that I simply cannot recount them all. The first is that He allowed me to be born.” In the postlogue he reiterates, “I have been so incredibly blessed by God in so many ways that I hardly know where to start thanking Him.” This is what Gordon would most want to be remembered about him.

Gordon was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 60 years, Jean, his sister Abbie, and his parents, Henry and Gladys. He is survived by 8 children: Ann, Susan (& Roman), Tim (& Deborah), Lynn (& Mark), Bryan (& Maggie), John (& Rebecca), Kelly (& Greta) and Lisa (& Mark Anthony); 22 grandchildren: Dana, Abbie, Rebekah, Emily, Zachary, Micah, Lily, Eden, Catherine, Hunter, Aaron, Olivia, Andrew, James, Sam, Austin, Allie, Marcus, Josh, Heidi, Henry and Max; and 17 great grandchildren: Claire, Grace, Olivia, Savannah, Emma, Peter, Eliza, Aubrey, Madison, Harper, Sawyer, Tyson, Travis, Catalina, Lucas, Eliana and Maverick.

A visitation will be held on October 2nd from 5-8 pm at Klein Funeral Home (16131 Champion Forest Drive, Spring, Texas), with a Rosary and vigil at 6 pm. A funeral Mass will be held on October 3rd at 11 am at Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Church (18511 Klein Church Rd, Spring, Texas).