William Glenn Hart

William Glenn Hart, 90, of Stratford went to be with the Lord on November 10, 2020. Memorial services will be held graveside at 11:00 am, Friday, November 13, 2020 at the Stratford Cemetery in Stratford, Texas. The service will be conducted by Michael Rinne, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Stratford. William Glenn Hart was born on August 20, 1930 to Edward and Opal Hart in a private home on the west side of Stratford, Texas. William Glenn was a life time resident of Sherman County, Texas. He graduated from Stratford High School in 1947, and was a member of the 1946 Stratford Elks state championship basketball team and then attended West Texas State College and served in the National Guard. William Glenn was married to the love of his life, Billye Joyce Baskin, on June 16, 1949 and enjoyed sixty-nine & a half wonderful years together. William Glenn and Joyce both loved their church home at First Baptist Church which played a central role in their lives. William Glenn was a deacon, Sunday school teacher, Joyce and he routinely opened their home for bible studies, hosted revival preachers and supported the church in numerous other ways. William Glenn was also an active member of the community, having served in a number of capacities, including the school board, city council and others. Starting out in his career William Glenn formed Stratford Welding, which built and constructed many items including windmill towers, storm shelters, farming implements, and even received a US patent for the "Stratford Land Plane". Later William Glenn, along with his friend Lance Harrington, founded Empire Construction based out of Stratford. Empire at one time employed as many as 85 people who designed and constructed numerous cattle feeding facilities, including Stratford Feedyard, which at the time was the largest public commercial feedyard in the world. Other installations built by Empire included Walter Lasley & Sons, Cactus Feedyard, Cimarron Feedyard, King Ranch Feedyard and many others. Throughout his career William Glenn also worked with his family building and managing a large farming and ranching operation. He loved ranching and stayed active at the family ranch the remainder of his life. Eventually, even after leaving Empire, because of the quality of his work, William Glenn was sought out by a group in Brazil to design and oversee numerous projects in Brazil. So both William Glenn and Joyce made the decision to move to Brazil and ultimately ended up staying off and on for many years. Both William Glenn and Joyce loved the people they met in Brazil and continued to keep in touch with them even after moving back home in 2005. William Glenn was devoted to his Christian faith and placed God first in his life. As the patriarch of the family, he was a spiritual role model, and was a patient and loving husband, father, brother, and grandfather (Bompers). William Glenn is proceeded in death by his wife Billye Joyce Hart, his son William Jeffery Hart, granddaughter, Samantha Hart, his brother Howard Lynn Hart, and his parents, Edward and Opal Hart. William Glenn is survived by two sons, Jon Hart and wife Cindy of Stratford, Joel Hart and wife Sheryl of Amarillo, daughter Honey Hart and husband Mike Foust of Amarillo, sister-in-law Carol and husband Ken Campbell of San Angelo. Numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren and even great great grandchildren along with other adopted family members and many other special friends. The family requests any donations be made to the First Baptist Church of Stratford. To plant Memorial Trees in memory of William Glenn Hart, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.