Blake Farenthold: “I am here today to remember the life of a great constituent, Mr. Don Kaspar, who passed away, recently, at 88. Don was…”

“I am here today to remember the life of a great constituent, Mr. Don Kaspar, who passed away, recently, at 88. Don was born on November 24, 1928, in Shiner, Texas, where he graduated from Shiner High School in 1945. He served as the president of his class at Texas A&M, where he graduated in 1949 with a degree in agricultural administration. He worked part-time factory jobs throughout school and served as a junior executive at Kaspar Wire Works, a company founded in 1898 by his grandfather. During the Korean war, Don served in the United States Army as a second lieutenant and then as a first lieutenant, receiving a Combat Infantry Badge and a Bronze Star. He then returned to Kaspar Wire Works, now Kaspar Companies, where he became CEO, and it grew from a small company with 18 employees to a multinational enterprise with nearly 1,000 employees. I was fortunate enough to tour the company a couple of years ago with Don and learned about the success of his ventures. Despite his busy job, Don always had time to give back to the community. He was president of the Shiner Rotary Club, director of the Shiner Hospital Foundation, the first chairman of Shiner Youth Baseball, chairman of the Shiner United Way Fund, a local scoutmaster, chairman of the board at his local church, and more. A pillar of the Shiner community, Don was married to the late Jean Welhausen Kaspar for 52 years and leaves behind 4 sons, their wives, 10 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren.…”