James (Jim) Herman Hamilton passed away quietly with family present on Wednesday February 26, 2020. Jim is preceded in death by his parents Herman and Millicent Hamilton of San Antonio, his two sisters, Arlene Hoad and Francis Crow of Houston and most recently in 2019, the love of his life, Mary Lou Hamilton.Jim was born on September 21, 1925 in San Antonio Texas and exemplified, what is unquestionably, the “Greatest Generation” of Americans. Jim enlisted in the Service on November 17, 1943 with his best friend Boyd Harris and chose the Marine Corps. They both were stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, CA. Jim was deployed and served his country with distinction in the campaign to take Iwo Jima in the South Pacific. Boyd survived his deployment as well and they remained close until Boyd’s passing in 2019.After returning from the Service, Jim availed himself of the GI bill and received his credentials as a Petroleum Geologist from the Texas College of Mines in El Paso in 1951. He met, married and settled in to start a family with Mary Lou Reynolds of Crane, Texas, and together they raised their family in the burgeoning oil patch city of Midland, Texas where they lived since 1952. Jim and Mary Lou were a quiet, private couple who both lived and breathed the values and hard work ethics of their generation and took pride in providing for their family in the cyclical economy of west Texas in the decades of the 1950s through the 1980s. Jim took pride as well as an Independent Geologist working in the Oil Business alongside Oil Business giants such as George H. W. Bush, Clayton Williams Jr. and others. Jim passed on his ethics of hard work and honesty to his three children with dedication, delivering wisdom with his dry wit and sense of humor. Known as Dad, Grandad and G-Pa, he will be greatly missed.Jim is survived by his three children, Steve Hamilton and his wife Laurel of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Charlie Hamilton and his wife Karla of Bastrop, Texas and Kathy Carlton and her husband Bill of Allen, Texas as well as 5 Grand Children and 9 Great Grandchildren.The family wishes to thank the Pastors and congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Midland for their friendship and spiritual leadership as well as the wonderful staff of Home Instead for providing in-home companionship and care for both Jim and Mary Lou through their final 2 years. A plaque was dedicated by the family in January 2019 at the Pacific War Museum in Fredricksburg Texas in honor of Jim’s service to his country.Jim will be interned in a Graveside service alongside Mary Lou in Resthaven Memorial Park in Midland, Texas at 11:00 AM, this Saturday March 7th. A visitation is scheduled for Friday evening from 5PM to 7PM at Nalley Pickle Funeral home located at 3800 N. Big Spring St, Midland, TX 79705. Flowers may be sent to the funeral home or in lieu of flowers, donations in Jim’s name to the Marine Corps League at www.mclnational.org or the Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation at www.fallenpatriots.org. would certainly be appreciated as well.,
