Antonio Salazar Jr.

Antonio Salazar was a teacher through and through, beginning his career as a high school higher maths teacher in Premont, Texas, and returning to teaching in remedial math at Amarillo College after retiring from Helium Field Operations in 1988.  It was a second career he joyfully took on in 1989 and continued until he could no longer see well enough to work at the school.  In 1999, he and his wife of 64 years, Yolanda, established a scholarship at AC, primarily for returning students. He taught everyone with whom he came into contact that life is about playing the game fair, playing to win, and winning, or losing, with grace.  And he didn’t just talk it, he lived it – coaching nearly all his children in Kid’s Inc, the boys YMCA athletic programs and later the city’s adult softball leagues.  He also played softball until about 1971, quitting only because he had to because of knee problems, and then turned to watching football and basketball games on television.  His favorite sports events, however, were Amarillo and Canyon school district sports games of any sort and Amarillo College women’s basketball when the school had a program. Born Oct. 25, 1925, in Beeville, Tex., he went from the cotton fields worked by his parents, Antonio and Clemencia Salazar, and aunts and uncles to what he always thought of as the big leagues – a college education, thanks to his service as a gunnery instructor in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and the resultant GI Bill. After the war, he joined the National Guard, then later served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve from 1956 to the mid 1980s.  He retired as a lieutenant colonel after working as a base civil engineer in both active duty and the reserves.  Some of his favorite times were his active duty tours at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. Mr. Salazar had graduated with honors from then-Texas A&I University in Kingsville, Tex., with a bachelor’s degree in physics and math, later obtaining a master’s degree in petroleum engineering.  He went to work for Schlumberger Oil Co. in Pampa, then moved to Amarillo in 1957 with his family when he went to work for Helium Operations, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior.  He officially retired in 1988. Throughout his years in active community life, he worked with various organizations and served on numerous boards of directors, including the Amarillo College Foundation, the Amarillo Community Development Advisory Committee, Wesley Community Center, Catholic Family Service, Inc., the Nonprofit Center Management Board of the Amarillo Area Foundation, Alamo Catholic High School, the Air Force Association, Mended Hearts, Serra Club, Los Barrios de Amarillo, the Girl Scouts Council, St. Anthony’s (Hospital) Auxiliary, the Area Agency on Aging, Children’s Protective Services, Kid’s Inc., the Knights of Columbus, and many committees and groups at St. Mary’s Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo. He was actively involved in establishment of the Tyler Street Resource Center in downtown Amarillo and with Step Up to Success and other organizations that especially encouraged Hispanic youth to stay in school.  Among his awards and honors were presentations of El Mejor de Lo Nuestro Award by Los Barrios de Amarillo and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year recognition. In 1991, he was appointed by then-Gov. Ann Richards to serve on the State Job Training Coordinating Council. He always credited his wife, whom he married on April 14, 1945, in San Antonio, with giving him the time for his community commitments.  She was at his side always. We will miss him more than words can say. Survivors include his wife; his seven children and their spouses: Jeannie Salazar Friddell and Norman Friddell, Vivian Salazar and Linda Bigham, Patty Salazar, all of Amarillo; Diane Salazar McFall and John McFall of Lakeside, Ariz.; Rick Salazar and Jenni Salazar of Bedford; Mary Salazar and Deede Allen of Austin and Norma Salazar of Austin; grandchildren and their spouses Shelley and Phillip Jones of Amarillo; Dr. Tony and Paise Friddell of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Tiffany and D.J. Hunt and Chad Ellis and Micah Wing, all of Amarillo, Chris and Elizabeth Ellis of Show Low, Ariz.; and Anthony Salazar and Caleb and Sara Allen, all of Austin; Crystal Salazar of Bedford; Candie Runquist of Hereford; and Karon and Aaron Baugh, both of Oregon; great-grandchildren Alex and Abby Jones, Allysen and Grady Hunt, all of Amarillo; Olivia and Grayson Friddell and Turner and Katherine Baccus, all of Chattanooga; Giovanni and Isaiah Salazar, both of Bedford; Sofie Ellis of Show Low, Ariz., and Marieda Sepulveda of Dallas.  His survivors also include four siblings: Alfredo Salazar of Mechanicsville, Va., Abel Salazar of Humble, Alicia Padden of Indianapolis, Ind., and Andrea Gonzales of Beeville, as well as numerous loving nieces and nephews. The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, memorials be in the form of contributions to the Antonio and Yolanda Salazar Scholarship at Amarillo College, St. Mary’s Catholic Church Building Fund and the Capuchin Monastery.  We also would like to express our gratitude for the loving care he received from his caregivers, especially Tammy Sykes, at Interim Healthcare Services.abs classification of occupations leading hand

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