Award of Excellence, James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation (1958)
Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Civil Engineering, ASCE Dallas Branch (1978)
WILLIAM LLEWELLYN POWELL, longtime Dallas resident and civil engineer died Sunday, March 22, 2009. He would have celebrated his 98th birthday on April 27th. He was born in a residence on Allen Street, just off McKinney in Dallas, Texas, on April 27, 1911, the first child of William Jenner Powell and Harriet Lane Powell Powell. He became a member of the Church of the Incarnation shortly after his birth with his baptism by Bishop Alexander C. Garrett. In 1915 the family, which now included two younger siblings, moved to their newly constructed home at 4033 Cole Avenue where Llewellyn continued his childhood and early adult residency, except for the family’s brief 1917-18 WWI interlude in Leavenworth, Kansas, and Laurel, Maryland. Llewellyn attended Ben Milam grade school and graduated cum laude from North Dallas High School in 1928. He attended SMU Engineering School from 1928-29 and graduated from the University of Texas School of Engineering with a BSCE in 1932; he was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity.
Shortly after his arrival in Austin in 1929, Llewellyn met Mary Lee Weston, better known as “Billy.” Billy and Llewellyn soon became college sweethearts; she was his Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. After his 1932 graduation, Llewellyn joined his father,
W. J. Powell, to form Powell & Powell, Consulting Engineers, continuing the private engineering practice founded by his father in 1925, working on projects such as the White Rock sewage treatment plant and City of Dallas waste water improvements.
Billy and Llewellyn were married September 17, 1934, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas. Their union was blessed with five children: William Llewellyn Jr. 1935, Maryllyn Anne 1937, Dixon Leigh Weston 1939, Robert Lane 1942, and Sarah Brooke 1944. Residency in the early marriage years alternated between Llewellyn’s Cole Avenue Dallas family home with successive intervening residencies in smaller Texas towns – Stamford, Sulphur Springs, Terrell – during the design and construction of various infrastructure facilities in those areas. In 1938 Billy and Llewellyn purchased their first Dallas home at 2618 Langdon Avenue, near Love Field.
Commissioned in October 1936 as a Lt jg in the U. S. Naval Reserve Civil Engineer Corps, Llewellyn was called to active duty in October 1940, reporting first to NAS Corpus Christi for indoctrination and returning to Dallas in November 1940 for duty as Resident Officer in Charge of Construction of the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, which later became Naval Air Station Dallas. After Pearl Harbor in December 1941, with the original project substantially complete, Llewellyn’s Navy duty was intensified. He was assigned responsibility for new additional facilities on expanded property at NAS Dallas and major construction of a new Marine Corps Glider Base on Eagle Mountain Lake north of Fort Worth. In July 1943, he was reassigned to duty as Design Manager in the Public Works Office at the U. S. Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia, continuing in that capacity until his release from active duty following VJ Day in 1945. He later retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve with the rank of Commander.
After release from active duty, Billy and Llewellyn, with their family of five children, returned to the Dallas area for resumption of Llewellyn’s civil engineering career, establishing an intended temporary residency in Grand Prairie, Texas. Becoming one of eight founding families of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Grand Prairie and actively involved in the early life of that parish, they continued Grand Prairie residency until 1953 when they returned to establish their Dallas home on Villanova Drive and resume active participation at their home parish, The Church of the Incarnation.
A post-war resurgence of new civil engineering work included engagement for the design work for the new Dallas Central Expressway, the Park Cities water treatment plant, numerous water and sewage projects, and as partner-in-charge of design for the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike. For his design of the arch bridge at Hampton Road on the DFW Turnpike, the American Institute of Steel Construction recognized him with the Most Beautiful Bridge Built in 1957 award. In 1958, The James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation gave him their Award of Excellence. Llewellyn was also active in professional engineering organizations, serving in 1959-60 as president of the Dallas Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers and in 1963 as president of the Dallas Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. During National Engineers Week in 1978, the American Society of Engineers recognized him for Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Civil Engineering, and again in 1989 presented him with their Award of Honor. The American Water Works Association presented him with the 1986 Gold Water Drop Award. At the time of his death Llewellyn was an active member and loyal supporter of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, the Dallas Historical Society, and the Dallas Heritage Village Guild who honored him with the Golden Tennis Shoe volunteer award in 2008. He was also a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow.
Llewellyn was also very active in the Episcopal Church. A longtime member of the Church of the Incarnation, he was a member of the choir for 40 years, a lay reader for weekday evening prayer and Sunday mornings, a chalice bearer, an acolyte, an usher, and a delegate to the diocesan convention. On the diocesan level he served on the Evangelism and Stewardship committees, the Camp Crucis and Episcopal Foundation boards, on the Executive Council and Standing Committee. He served for several years on the Provincial Synod, and three terms as Deputy to General Convention. At the 1966 Diocesan Convention, he was honored as Layman of the Year, while Billy was named Laywoman of the Year. Llewellyn was the first president of the Dallas Assembly of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, which was formed in 1950, and was elected as a member of the National Council of the Brotherhood. He was also one of the founding members of the Brotherhood chapter at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Grand Prairie. He served for many years as a National Vice President and Chairman of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee and was elected to “The Brotherhood Legion” in recognition of distinguished service. At the organization’s National Meeting in Alexandria, Virginia in 2007, he received the Brotherhood of Saint Andrew Presidential Ring of Honor.
Life members of the University of Texas Ex Students Association, Billy and Llewellyn traveled extensively with the Texas Ex Flying Longhorns. After Billy passed away in 2004, Llewellyn and his daughter Maryllyn shared several cross-county trips to see great-grandchildren and a trip in 2006 on the QM2 to England and France.
Predeceased by his parents Jenner and Harriet Powell, sister Mary Helen Powell Disch, wife of almost 70 years Mary Lee Weston Powell, son Dixon Leigh Weston Powell, and daughter-in-law Linda Lee Lowe Powell. Survived by brother Richard Leigh Powell, 2 sons: William Llewellyn Powell, Jr. and wife Carol Lavery, Eugene, OR; Robert Lane Powell and wife Ellen Daniel Simons, San Francisco; by 2 daughters Maryllyn Anne Powell Hargrave, Dallas; Sarah Brooke Powell Charlton and husband John Thomas Charlton, Livingston, TX; 12 grandchildren: Stephen Jenner Powell and wife Sue, Decatur AL; Michael Lane Powell and wife Tasha, Idaho Falls ID; Rodney David Hargrave III and wife Laura, Austin TX; Jeffrey Llewellyn Hargrave and wife Jennifer, Dallas; Harriet Lane Hargrave and husband Greg Brodie, Portland OR; Megan Leigh Powell Brown and husband Mark Brown, Knoxville TN; Robert Lane Powell, Jr. and wife Debbie, Miami, FL; Joseph Benjamin Powell and wife Andrea, Aventura, FL; Brooke Powell and Todd Powell, San Francisco; Alicia Brooke Merrifield and husband Chuck, Richmond TX; John Thomas Charlton II and wife Kerri, Carlsbad, CA; 16 great-grandchildren: Mitch & Linda Powell; Scott & Andrew Powell; Lilly & Henry Hargrave; William, Weston & Evellyn Hargrave; Esther Brograve; Nancy Brown; Willow, Jude & Siena Powell; and Erin & Travis Merrifield and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews and godchildren. Services at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, March 28, 2009, at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, 3966 McKinney Ave. Dallas, The Rev. Frederick Philputt officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to the Church of the Incarnation.
