In Loving Memory
of
John Neill

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John Neil was born May 1, 1940 near Wills Point. He was my best friend.

We grew up together, played football together, chummed around together, learned about girls together, attended college together, worked at TI together, just about everything together.  We were best men at each other's wedding.  John lead a group of my friends who decided to sneak into my new Dallas apartment on my wedding day and leave a few surprises, including hidden light bulbs, cracker crumbs in the bed, and vinegar in our milk.  I guess he was trying to get even with me for smearing Limburger cheese on his car manifold and putting rocks in his hubcaps on his wedding day.

John attended North Texas State University, where he and his wife, Jenelle, and I studied physics and math.  He started working for Texas Instruments in 1959 as a diffusion technician and rose quickly through the ranks of management to manages several of  TI's semiconductor plants.  John eventually rose to the position of president and director of Texas Instruments' Philippine semiconductor manufacturing facility.

John died in a Philippine airplane that crashed June 26, 1987 about nine miles from its destination in northern Luzon, The Philippines.  When John died, the President and CEO of Texas Instruments, Jerry Junkins, said, "John was truly a member of the TI family and a close friend to many of us."  I cannot describe the personal feeling of loss I experienced on learning of his death.  I often have present thoughts of when we were growing up together, back in the days my children describe as "Golden Days."

Every man should have a "best friend" such as John was to me.  We can all be comforted to know that John was not only a good man who loved his family, but he also loved The Lord and we will be together someday in heaven.