Cecil Ingram

Cecil Glenn Ingram\r\nDecember 17, 1931 - May 16, 2018\r\n\r\nGlen Ingram, 86, the only child of Alvis Glen Ingram and Vera Mae Holmes Ingram, was born and raised in Crystal City, TX (except during elementary school when the family lived in the neighboring town of Carrizo Springs). Glen said, "Crystal City High School was a four year play period" for him … "band, glee club, FFA, football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis, and occasional studies." During one of his out-of-town basketball tournaments, he spied the Asherton girls' basketball team sitting in the bleachers and shortly thereafter started dating player Joella McMillan. During the summer of ‘49, after high school graduation, Glen worked for his uncle Dent Ingram on the Bowman Ranch near Carrizo. While he gained first-hand ag experience, after three months of a $3-a-day wage (and paying back $1 a day for tent, cot, and grub), he figured it would be a long time before he could buy his own ranch. So, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and found boot camp another play period, where he made use of his Eagle Scout skills, high school athletics and recent hard labor on the Bowman Ranch. After U.S. Fleet Sonar School in San Diego, in June 1950, the North Koreans decided to occupy South Korea. Glen spent the next three years as a sonar man aboard the USS Lyman K. Swenson DD729, during which he participated in the Korean War's Inchon Invasion. That time was also spent corresponding with his love, Joella.Honorably discharged in May 1953, he returned to Crystal City to work while waiting for college enrollment in Los Angeles. In his Remembrances, Glen says, "The summer provided time to solidify the relationship with the Asherton basketball gal who had since moved to Carrizo. Before leaving for California, I realized I was forever hooked."\r\n\r\nGlen started classes at El Camino College and work at Northrop Aircraft, working first as a missile electrician then as a handbook illustrator in the technical publications department. Meanwhile, Joella attended The University of Texas in Austin where she furthered her piano studies. During Christmas break, Glen drove to Carrizo Springs and gave his love an engagement ring. They married the following summer, on June 26, 1954, and lived in a suburb of Los Angeles for nineteen months before their Texas roots pulled them back to Texas with Favorite Daughter #1 (Shirley) in tow. Then began a 33-year career with LTV Aircraft Products Group where Glen worked in multiple capacities over the years - technical illustrator, parts catalog supervisor, technical arts supervisor, publications administrator, sub-contractor engineering design data supervisor, and others positions he couldn't recall. One assignment he particularly recalled was a then-top-secret, "black hole" project that involved the development of the Stealth Bomber, which allowed him the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of that bomber. Over the LTV decades, his family grew to include Favorite Daughter #2 (Diane) and Favorite Daughter #3 (Sandra), and the family home moved from Grand Prairie to Irving to Garland and finally to Euless - 39 years in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. During those years, Glen obtained a degree in Management and Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and then earned his private pilot license.He later joined the Arlington, Texas chapter of the national Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America where he sang in the chorus and a quartet. As their bulletin editor, he published many barbershopper cartoons and signed his correspondence "Barily-a-Bass." During the 1970s, he coached an AAU swim team of junior high and high school students in the evenings, and he almost finished a master's program at Texas Christian University before health issues demanded he withdraw. Along the way, with orders from his former commanding officer, Glen was instrumental in organizing an annual reunion of the sailors who served on the USS Lyman K. Swenson, his ship that served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. This year will be the 30th reunion! \r\n\r\nAfter retirement from LTV in 1989, Glen and Jo began searching Texas for a retirement site, andbuilt their dream home just outside of Bandera, Texas, in 1995. Saying he didn't know how he ever found time to go to work, Glen spent his retirement years pursuing a host of activities. He renewed his pilot license and resumed fun flying again, this time with his co-pilot wife, and made new friends in the Kerrville chapter of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association). He participated in the Young Eagles program and worked with the Bandera Boy Scout Troop for several years. He regularly corresponded with old friends, new friends, and shipmates, and carried on with cartooning. He and Jo continued to share their love of music. When Jo began learning harp, Glen began learning classical harmonica. Proudly wearing a shirt labeled "Jo's Harp Hon," he accompanied his wife at multiple performances on his clarinet, recorder, or harmonica. He organized a reunion of his high school graduating class, the ‘49ers, where his classmates renewed their old relationships, shared their lifetime stories, and continued to gather once or twice a year … until this past year.\r\n\r\nGlen enjoyed his family and enjoyed organizing and documenting family reunions. Although he was an only child that lost his mother when he was 14 years old, Glen gained a sister, Shirley McMillan, when he married Jo. Over the years he enjoyed close relationships with two uncles and their wives, cousins, in-laws, three daughters, six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren … and many, dear friends.\r\n\r\nA multitude of accolades were bestowed on Glen throughout his lifetime of endeavors -- high school accomplishments, Eagle Scouts, Northrop, LTV, barbershop,and coaching.A fellow barbershopper, Grady Kerr, wrote in an announcement to barbershoppers everywhere:\r\n\r\n"Sadly, I must report the death of Glen Ingram, long-time barbershopper and gifted illustrator. Glen was a great friend who sang with the Arlington Good Times Chorus (TX). For years he produced their bulletin and included his own cartoons to the delight of all his readers world-wide. He was a great writer and had a great sense of humor. His work captured the "life" of an average barbershopper (in which he included himself). His work was top rate. There weren't a better editor/illustrator/cartoonist in the Society.\r\n\r\n"He even caught the eye of the great Bub Thomas of the Dapper Dans of Disney World. A great cartoonist himself,Bub and Glen struck up a great friendship sending each other their latest work (ala a friendly competition). You feltpretty special when you received a piece of mail that included a personalized Glen Ingram cartoon drawn on the outside of the envelope.\r\n\r\n"That's what Glen did. He made YOU feel special. He was a kind-hearted soul. A friend to all, he shared his talent unconditionally and free of charge.\r\n\r\n"He shared his chapter bulletin (with new illustrations in each) with barbershop chapter editors nation-wide. He was more famous than even HE realized and was humble enough to NEVER consider himself "famous." But, HE WAS!"\r\n\r\nGlen generously shared his passion for life, learning, and the activities he so enjoyed and valued … always "paying it forward."\r\n\r\nGlen is survived by his wife Joella; his three daughters, Shirley Ingram, Diane David and husband Richard, and Sandra Ingram; his sister-by-marriage Shirley McMillan; six grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; several cousins and cousins-in-law; and dear friends still.\r\n\r\nA Celebration of Life will be held 2:00 PM, Saturday, June 16, 2018 at Bandera United Methodist Church.\r\n\r\nIn lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to:\r\n• United States Navy Memorial / Washington, DC\r\n• Boy Scouts of America\r\n• Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children / Dallas, or\r\n• Bandera United Methodist Church / Music Program\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n