John D. Reinke Jr. Obituary

John D. Reinke Jr. attended Bay City High School in Bay City, TX. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about John D. Reinke Jr..

Graduation Year	Faculty
Date of Passing	Jul 19, 2017
About	John D. Reinke Jr. March 25, 1937 - July 19, 2017 John D. Reinke Jr. passed away on July 19, 2017, in Waco, Texas. He was born on March 25, 1937 in Bay City, Texas to John D. and Opal Odell Williams Reinke. He graduated from Bay City High School and went on to earn his Bachelors and Masters Degree in Music Education from the University of North Texas in Denton. While working on his doctorate, he received a call to come back to his hometown, Bay City, to be a band director with BCISD. He taught there for 30 years, until health issues with his back prevented him from being able to travel with his students. John served as the Choir and Bell Director in Presbyterian churches in Bay City, Bryan, Stillwater and New Braunfels, which was every city where he lived before moving to the Waco area. Mr. Reinke was the most handsome Reinke brother. This was finally agreed upon by his younger brothers, Claude and Darby. He also had a great sense of humor and was a man of many talents, including making his mother’s tomato gravy recipe, which everyone pretended to like. He was a very talented artist and loved to paint flowers, particularly bluebonnets, and landscapes with hidden redbirds. The New Braunfels Art League, with such wonderful members, was always special to him. John is preceded in death by his parents; foster son, Richard Longoria (and wife Tina Longoria); and his four-legged child, Annie. He is survived by his wife, Kay Skipper Reinke of Crawford; his son, J.D. Reinke III (Betsy) of Houston; daughters, Katrina Marbach (Delton) of Victoria, Gretchen Deatherage (Leslie) of Bartlett, Tennessee, Heidi Easley (Kenneth) of Victoria, and Julie Sciacca Hatz (Bryan) of China Spring. He loved his grandchildren, Kaci Kelley Clark (Kody), Shanna Kelley Putz (Gary), Maegan Marbach Shaffer (Tyler), Cameron, Alyssa and Jenny Marbach, Nick and Haley Deatherage, Nicole and Clayton Easley, Kate and Marc Ivey, great grandchildren, Kaden and Kylie Clark; and his four-legged children, Coco and Sugar. He is also survived by his almost equally handsome brothers, Claude Reinke (Rhonda) of Temecula, California and Darby Reinke (Barbara) of Denton, Texas; as well as many nieces, nephews and countless friends and former band students. At John’s request there will not be a funeral. However, there will be a memorial/celebration of life on August 12, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 325 McCarty Ln, San Marcos, Texas. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the John Reinke Music Scholarship, for Bay City High School Music Students, at any Wells Fargo Bank. At the celebration of life there will be a silent auction of John’s paintings to begin funding the scholarship.