Haegelin

The National Academy of Construction lost the seventh of its twenty-four Charter Members with the passing of Joe K. Haegelin on February 8, 2016. A memorial service was held at St. Michael Catholic Church on February 15, 2016 followed by a later private interment service.

Joe represented the model for industry owner/user leadership. Other than three years in the Navy in the early 1950’s, he spent his entire professional career with Texaco until his retirement in 1996. He involved his family in both his professional and personal activities, including leadership in the Catholic community and in all of his many professional involvements. He and his son attended the Indianapolis 500 annually because of Texaco sponsorship. He had an impressive collection of Texaco memorabilia distributed throughout his home. He was dedicated to his family, his church, his company and industry leadership organizations throughout his life and career.

Joe was born on September 16, 1933 in Atkinson, Kansas. (Incidentally, it was also the birthplace of Amelia Earhart.) He became financially independent at age 12, working in his father’s creamery and in playing pool. He joined the U.S. Navy for three years and, although offered Officers Candidate School, he opted to enroll in civil engineering at Kansas State University in 1953. He married Katherine (Kitty) Cannon in 1957, his last year at KSU, where he was a campus leader.

After completing his education at Kansas State, Joe interviewed several companies and selected Texaco for his lifetime career. His first assignment was at a refinery near Joliet, Illinois where he and Kitty lived for six years. Their two children Greta (Zimmerman) and Joseph C. Haegelin, were born in Joliet. That led to a series of about a dozen assignments in various domestic and international locations and included both project and production responsibilities. Two memorable assignments were with Scanraff, a Texaco refining affiliate in Sweden and Pembroke, Wales, in 1978 where he managed a large joint venture project with Gulf Oil Company involving an Italian firm as Designer and several British firms as construction contractors. He was later named as General Manager of the Pembroke Plant before returning to Texas in 1984 as Texaco’s Assistant General Manager of Manufacturing for Texaco USA. He retired in 1996 as General Manager of Texaco’s Central Engineering and Purchasing Department.

We first met Joe and his family on the Pembroke Project in 1981 when our family (including our son and daughter who were graduate students) was engaged in developing a productivity improvement program involving Texaco, the designer/project managing company Snamprogetti and Wimpey Construction Company. We became personal friends with Joe and Kitty and their family and even visited with them in their Manor House (of a castle) after the project was completed and he became the Plant Manager.

Joe served in many organizations, including ASCE, the American Petroleum Institute, The Board of Advisors for the Texas A&M Construction Executive Program and the Visiting Committee for the UTAustin Civil Engineering Department. He was active in the Construction Industry Institute and served as Chairman of its Board of Advisors in addition to several other committees. He was also a member of the Purchasing Managers Association of Houston, the Houston Business Council and was a Director of the National Minority Suppliers Development Council and of the Gulf Coast Alliance for Minorities in Engineering. He was a Charter Member of the National Academy of Construction in 1999 and served on its Executive Committee, even after suffering a debilitating stroke.

In summary, Joe was a “Man for All Seasons” combining his loyalty for family, church, company, professional and civic organizations and personal acquaintances. Although he will be missed, his influence and contributions will be felt for generations.


-Richard Tucker, 2016