Aubrey J. Dry Sr., of Jasper, Texas went to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on April 24, 2022. A gathering of family and friends to celebrate his life will be held at Shultz Funeral Home in Jasper on Friday, April 29, 2022. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. with services to follow at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at Holly Grove Cemetery in Holly Grove, Texas near Livingston at 2 p.m.
He was preceded in death by his parents Roy Dry Sr. and Willie Alvera Wicker Dry, his brother Roy Dry Jr., sister Eleanor “Auntie” Perry, and sister Joan Birge.
He is survived by his beloved wife of 61 years, Earlene Dry, his children, Renee Waggener and husband Clay of Jasper, Aubrey J. Dry Jr. of Jasper, Ronnie Dry and wife Gloria of Houston, and Eddie Dry and wife Brady of Beaumont. His sister, Laura Berry of Corpus Christi, Texas and his brother, Audley Dry and wife Pam of Victoria, Texas. His grandchildren, Clayanne Spadaccini and husband Michael of Jasper, Jill Beatty and husband Cedric of Jasper, Jacob Waggener of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Lawson Dry and wife Krista of Brookeland, and Lacy Jordan and husband Derek of Splendora. His great grandchildren, Camden and Claire Spadaccini, Braelyn and Trevor Beatty, Jaeya Waggener, and Arabella, Mary, Evelyn and Chasen Jordan.
Aubrey was born on the farm in Shelbyville, Texas in 1940, the fifth of six children in his family. His parents, not being well educated, always stressed the importance of getting an education. He worked hard on the farm and in school and graduated as an honor student from Shelbyville High School in 1958. Coming from a small school, he began college at Lee Junior College, where he lived with his oldest sister. It was at Lee College that he met his future wife, Earlene Albright (Dry) and the two were soon married while attending college. He worked during the summer doing construction and saved for his tuition each year while his wife Earlene worked full time as a bank teller. During his second year of college his father passed away. This only made him try harder to get his college education that his father wanted him to receive. After junior college he began school at Lamar University and majored in Civil Engineering. While at Lamar he worked as a student assistant for the head of the civil engineering department. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering in June 1963 from Lamar University. He immediately began working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where he soon attained his Professional Engineer license. One of his first assignments was finishing portions of the seawall and jetty systems in Galveston, Texas. He moved his family near his projects back then, and had homes in League City, Port Arthur and Nederland, Texas where he worked as the Project Engineer building the Gulfgate Bridge, (now renamed to MLK Bridge) connecting Texas and Louisiana at Pleasure Island. He moved his family to Jasper, Texas in 1972 to manage the Sam Rayburn and Town Bluff / Dam-B projects as the Resident Project Engineer until his retirement in 1999, following 36 years of service. He achieved the rank of GS-13 with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is equivalent to the Army rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and was commonly referred to as “Chief” by his colleagues at the Corps of Engineers.
Aubrey enjoyed collecting coins, postal stamps, and his favorite of all time; railroad ‘date nails’. He had a vast collection of ‘date nails’ and was a life-long member of the Texas Date Nail Collectors Association. He was an avid gamesman and enjoyed playing a game of dominos where 42 and Moon were his favorites. He could usually be heard saying “I shoot the moon” or “shoot it”…as he often did…and he often won! He was an avid genealogist and historian and began tracing the Dry family tree back in the early 1970’s and was still active in genealogy until a few short years ago. He traced the Dry family back to the 1600’s where he discovered the family name “Dry” was originally “Dürr” before his 5th Great-Grandfather migrated to America in the 1750’s. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Sons of the Republic of Texas and the Jasper County Historical Society.
Above all, he was a loving family man, a hard worker, and the backbone of our family. He has always encouraged his children and grandchildren in all endeavors whether they were in play, work or school. He never said that he did not have time to answer questions, and could easily tutor his children in algebra and higher math even after being out of college for nearly 20 years. He always stressed the importance of loving God, home and country and to always treat others in a manner that you would like to be treated. Your kind thoughts and prayers will be a blessing to his beloved family. Condolences can be posted at www.shultzfuneralhomeofjasper.com or on Facebook at Shultz Funeral Home &Crematory.
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