John David Hewitt

John David Hewitt was born to Elmer and Lois Hewitt on December 16, 1943 in Amarillo, TX. A sister, Sue, and brother, Greg, were born to the family over the next few years. With his father in the U.S. Army and, later, the Air Force, John enjoyed spending part of his childhood in Panama and his high-school years at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.

After high school, John attended and played baseball for Oklahoma Christian College before enlisting in the Army. Fortunately, his Vietnam-era service years were spent in Germany. Upon his return to the U.S., he briefly lived in Syracuse, NY, working to strengthen a church there with other Christians he had met in Germany, and in Duncan, OK, near his parents, before accepting employment with IBM and moving with the company first to North Carolina, then to Dallas, TX, and later to Waco, TX. Except for the Dallas traffic, John enjoyed his 35-year career with IBM, taking service calls on typewriters, then on copiers, and finally on large-system printers.

In 1982, John and Debby met at church in Dallas, and they married the next year. After his own nondescript academic career, John could hardly believe he had married a math teacher! He was intensely proud of his three sons – Jeff, Jeremy, and Darby – and he was a hands-on dad, supporting their church, sports, scouting, and band activities wholeheartedly. The family enjoyed road trips in the summers and skiing in the winters. All three sons earned college degrees – another source of great pride for John.

John retired from IBM in 2006 and began volunteering two days each week at the cabinet shop of Habitat for Humanity in Waco. The cabinet crew were a dedicated and skilled band of brothers who also managed to have a lot of fun, and John loved his association with them. In 2016, when John and Debby moved to Abilene, he immediately sought out the Abilene Habitat cabinet shop and volunteered there for another 14 months.

Churches were always a large part of the Hewitts’ life – beginning with Highland Oaks church of Christ in Dallas, then Robinson church of Christ in the Waco area, and, finally, Hillcrest church of Christ in Abilene. Members of these and other Abilene churches surrounded John and the family with prayer, love, and many kinds of physical support through John’s final weeks, for which the Hewitts are humbly grateful.

John died in Abilene on March 1, 2018 after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, Debby, and three sons: Jeff (of Cedar Creek, TX), Jeremy (of Atlanta, GA), and Darby (of Abilene); three daughters-in-law: Brandi, Janice, and Kayla; four grandchildren: Josh, Joey, Jonas, and Ellie; his sister, Sue Goodknight (of Wichita Falls, TX), and her family; and his brother, Greg Hewitt (of Edmond, OK), and his family.

John’s life will be celebrated at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 10 at Hillcrest Church of Christ in Abilene. In lieu of flowers, donations to Abilene Habitat for Humanity or to The Noah Project of Abilene will be appreciated.