Marcus James Lockard

November 5, 1949 - April 13, 2018

Marc was born at St. Jude Hospital on November 5, 1949, in Brenham, Texas, but lived in Somerville, Texas graduating from Somerville High School in 1968.

His parents were William Pierce (Sonny) Lockard, a former US Marine and Veteran of WWII who worked as a switchman for the Santa Fe Railroad, and Velma Rie (Dolly) Roesler who managed the Flencher Insurance Agency.

Marc was an only child who grew up in a small close community with neighborhood children who became lifetime friends. He showed horses and played baseball, both interests he shared with his Dad, Sonny. He played the trumpet in the high school band and worked on the school yearbook. He began working at Western Auto when he was 14. The owner, Jimmy Schoppe was also an entrepreneurial inspiration to Marc giving him a variety of experiences in his businesses. One of those highlights he often recalled was being handed the keys and opportunity to drive a bulldozer. Jimmy made Marc feel like he could accomplish anything. Marc and his friend Dick Meyer had a keen interest in mobile radios and communications. Together they installed many mobile radios for citizens in the community during high school including some for the surrounding law enforcement agencies.

Marc, a HS junior, met Sue Ann Simmons, a senior, just before the school year started when her father took over as Superintendent of Somerville ISD. They were friends during that year and went to the Jr./Sr. prom together in May. Sue Ann soon left for college at TWU. When she was home for Christmas break, they began dating exclusively. He wrote her a letter EVERY day she was away at school.

When Marc graduated from High School in 1968, he followed his interest in wireless communication and desire to become an engineer by enrolling at Texas A&M where he majored in Electrical Engineering. He was a member of the Aggie Band his freshman year.

He and Sue Ann were married at the First Methodist Church of Somerville in August of 1970 after his sophomore year at A&M as soon as she graduated from TWU. Their relationship was the highlight of both of their lives for 51 years. They lived on the A&M campus in Southside Student housing for his last two years of school and Sue Ann taught 3rd grade at Sul Ross Elementary in Bryan. Marc worked for Platt Communications in Bryan installing mobile radios in the evenings. He graduated from A&M in 1972 as a member of the Engineering Honor Society, Tau Beta Pi.

Early in his career, Marc worked for LCRA, HL&P, and Saudi Aramco, which took he, Sue Ann, and their young son Jim to The Hague for a year. After that he worked for Exxon in New Orleans.

In 1977, at the age of 28, he embraced his entrepreneurial spirit, opening his own business, Communication Systems Management, (CSM) in Lafayette, La. with Sue Ann’s cousin David Fite. That company was sold a few years later and in 1984 Marc founded a new consulting firm in Houston with friend and former boss from his days at HL&P, Charlie White. Lockard and White began to make a name for themselves as a telecommunications engineering firm who could get the tough jobs done with efficiency and integrity. In 2006, he moved the Lockard & White headquarters from Houston to College Station. Over the years, he had many adventures with work projects all over the world to include, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and South America and was very involved with telecom for recovery after the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska. Once he stepped off a boat in the jungles of Ecuador and was unexpectedly greeted by a childhood friend from Somerville, Dale Meyer, who was there as a petroleum engineer. Another time he was stranded on top of a mountain in South America where he was overseeing the installation of a microwave antenna for Exxon when a storm rolled in and the helicopter could not land to retrieve him.

Marc loved Texas A&M deeply and he served on the Deans Advisory Council for the Dwight Look College of Engineering and the Industry Advisory Council for the Telecommunications Engineering Technology Program. He developed a Project Management class, taught an Ethics class and served as a guest lecturer in the Engineering Dept. His love for A&M and what it meant to his life, made him eager to give back. He sponsored senior design projects on campus, had many young Aggies serve as interns in his company and he hired a number of them after graduation.

He served on the Quarter Horse Committee of the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo. Although he never served in the military, he was a big supporter and a very proud patriot. As such, he was very involved on the committee to raise funds for the remodel of the Arizona Memorial Museum in Hawaii. One of his favorite places was sitting under the banyan tree at the Moana Surfrider in Waikiki.

Marc was an exceptional family man and father who is survived by his wife and three children, son: Commander Jim Lockard, TAMU’98 (wife Brittanie PhD TAMU’14), and 2 grandchildren: Mason (6) and Jackson (4); daughter: Melissa Lockard Daigneault, TAMU ‘2000, and three grandchildren: Connor (11), Carolina (9), and Court (5); daughter, Lauren Lockard Alfonso, MPA TAMU ’07(husband Jonathan) and granddaughter: Cora Grace (4 months).

As his children grew and became involved in activities, he became involved as well. He headed up the mule team for the Westfield High School Band, and ultimately became president of the Northwest Aquatic League when his kids were all involved in swim team. He was once out of state for a conference; he flew home for his son’s Blue and Gold Banquet as Cub Scout, and flew back early the next morning to finish his meetings. As he loved his children, he continued to love and be involved with all 6 of his grandchildren.

Marc was both an ambitious, and easy going kind man who always made his own family the highest priority. He also loved creating a family environment in his business and felt very protective of the many young engineers he nurtured into the business. He was a master of building solid relationships. He was honest, and he was a visionary always moving the goal forward.

He enjoyed reading biographies, and leadership books, which helped him create a positive business environment. He began retiring in 2016 and turning over the reins of the company to a leadership team he had built and nurtured. He was still available and consulting on particular projects to near the end of his life. He loved setting up his office in the gazebo in his yard, enjoying nature as he worked.

Marc was raised in the Lutheran Church in Somerville. He joined the Methodist Church when he married. He served as a usher, and Sunday School teacher over the years, and was always a deeply spiritual man who lived his faith. Marc’s daily actions were the greatest testament of that faith. He was a likeable man with the highest morals and sense of responsibility. He often said, “When making decisions in life, if you can stand up in your fifth grader’s class and discuss all of your actions and decisions with a clear conscience, you are on the right track.”

He left no words unspoken in our family; we all loved him dearly and knew he loved us.

He had faith he would be dwelling with his Heavenly Father, and that we would all meet again!

A Celebration of Life Service will be held Saturday April 21st at 10 AM at Hillier Funeral Home of COLLEGE STATION with a reception to follow. Roll Call Aggie Muster Saturday April 21st at 7 PM at Reed Arena.

A special thanks goes out to the doctors, nurses and staff at the Cancer Clinic in Bryan for the love and care Marc received from them. To honor Marc’s request, the family requests that donations be made in his memory to CHI St. Joseph’s Foundation, 2801 Franciscan Drive, Bryan, TX 77802. C/O Marc Lockard Memorials- Cancer Clinic.