Jerry Ray Hamrick

Jerry Ray Hamrick was born in a house on Live Oak Street in Hico, Texas on July 22, 1939. He passed away on October 29, 2025, in Stephenville, Texas. Jerry’s parents were Hestal Douglas Hamrick and Ersail Bullard Hamrick. His siblings, all younger than Jerry, are a sister Kendall Hamrick and brothers Jim Hamrick and Randall Hamrick. Jerry’s upbringing was mostly in Hico, Texas although during his childhood he and his family lived for several relatively short times in other locations in Texas and bordering states as dictated by his father's vocation. He graduated from Hico High School in 1957. His first year of college was at Tulane University in New Orleans, which he attended on an academic scholarship. Returning to an area closer to his roots, he continued his education at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he received his bachelor’s degree. Jerry’s first five years after college were spent teaching mathematics and German and coaching golf, mostly at Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Texas. The rest of his career was as a software engineer, before the world decided to call them that. In the earlier days of this career, he was known as a computer programmer and application systems software developer for Ross Perot’s Electronic Data Systems for several years, working alongside Morton Meyerson and many others as pioneers in this exciting new field. Development and implementation of some of the first computerized record management systems for national insurance companies were among his many accomplishments there. In his spare time, and after retirement, he loved to play golf, and he was a near-scratch golfer. Many who knew him were surprised that he didn’t pursue professional golf. As an example of his continued interest in golf, he once moved for a time from his home in the DFW metroplex to Horseshoe Bay, a resort and retirement community on Lake Lyndon B. Johnson near Marble Falls, Texas because it featured three professional-level golf courses, all within about three minutes of each other and likewise near the residential area there. For approximately the last three or four years of Jerry’s life, the cognitive impairment he had always feared because of ancestral experience increasingly affected his behavior and activity until ultimately his death may have resulted from complications of this impairment. But the math teacher part of him would undoubtedly have wanted you to remember that good health in even 82 of his 86 years is well above a passing grade. It would be safe to say, then, that for 95% of his life he was a productive contributor to society and his community, and that he had left the world a better place. To say that he was a longtime friend to many would be a serious understatement. For friends who stayed in touch, Jerry’s absence will be deeply felt.

Jerry Ray Hamrick

July 22, 1939 - October 29, 2025