Darral Heustis' Obituary
Darral Wayne Heustis of Leander, Texas, died on January 13, 2022. He was born in Oklahoma on July 16, 1954. He was the son of Louie Ray and Ada Geneva (Vaughn) Heustis. He was 67.
Darral is survived by his wife of over 46 years, Nancy Denise (Nickell) Heustis, sons Chris (Chrystal) Heustis of Richmond, Texas, and Andy (Jessica) Heustis of Goldthwaite, Texas, and he was the very proud Pepaw of three amazing grandchildren—Zoe, Ayden, and Caleb. He is also survived by five siblings: Bill and George Heustis, both of Westville, Oklahoma, Lorene Perkins and Willis Vaughn, both of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, and Betty Viquesney of Gladstone, Missouri. He was preceded in death by an infant son, his parents, his brother J.B. Heustis, and two sisters, Bonnie Buso and Viola Heustis.
Darral considered himself very fortunate to have been informally adopted by the Rehmann family many years ago. He was always very grateful for his relationships with Mary, Paul, Art, and Jan Rehmann.
Darral had an inquisitive mind and was interested in all things mechanical, scientific, or electronic. He was first able to pursue these interests in the U.S. Air Force, where he served for eleven years, and which brought him to the Austin area. He was stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base for over seven years, attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant.
After military service, he worked for Motorola for 19 years where he built, configured, and managed computer systems to manufacture semiconductors. When Motorola divested itself of its semiconductor products sector, Darral remained with the company which was renamed Freescale Semiconductor. In 2011, he was hired as a software engineer for Intel, where he worked as a Memory Component Designer until his death.
Darral had an active and busy life but describing the things he did does not begin to tell the story of the kind of man he was. Darral had retained throughout his life a capacity which most of us lose in childhood: the ability to be fascinated by things great and small. He had an uncanny ability to find great interest in things that went unnoticed by others. He could identify intriguing characteristics of places and objects that others didn’t perceive and his enthusiasm to learn about them was infectious.
Darral held a Ham radio license and enjoyed communicating with people from all over the world via Ham radio until cellular telephones became commonplace. He was captivated by three-dimensional printing from its inception and had two three-dimensional printers in his home which he loved to use to duplicate objects. He took great pleasure in going geocaching with Nancy—what could be more fun that a global treasure hunt? He and Nancy also delighted in taking road trips together, and they traveled around the U.S., stopping whenever and wherever there was something new and different to see or do.
Most of all, Darral loved spending time with family. He was so proud of his sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren and relished spending time with them and with Nancy. His cheerful attitude, his caring heart, and his bright smile will be missed by his friends and extended family, and especially by his in-laws, nephews, and nieces.
Funeral Service will be 11:00 am Saturday at Moore’s Chapel with burial to follow in Nickell Cemetery near Durham, Arkansas.
Darral lost his life to Covid-19. His son, Chris, and his daughter-in-law, Chrystal, have been in the hospital battling that dreadful disease for weeks and doctors say it may be several weeks yet before they are back at home. Their sons, aged 12 and 10, are being cared for at their home by a great aunt who is trying to maintain their normal routine. A fund has been set up to help the aunt buy food and other necessities to maintain the family home for the boys, as well as to help with medical expenses for Chris and Chrystal. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you contribute to this fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-chris-chrystal-lynn-with-medical-costs?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cf%20share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR0hqgEHnf4xbIX9Ioj62BtDbHxvprGnsO-gp4nJYWg7aPhnzidlU2NiL8s
Your prayers for this family would also be greatly appreciated.
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