Joe Wilmeth Blagg
November 8, 1919 – May 17, 2001
Funeral services for Joe W. Blagg will be held at 10:00 a.m. Monday, May 21, 2001 at the First Christian Church, 2411 Coggin Ave. in Brownwood, Texas with Judy Gaylor officiating. Interment will follow at the Greenleaf Cemetery under the direction of Davis-Morris Funeral Home.
Mr. Blagg died Thursday, May 17, 2001 at the Brownwood Regional Hospital. He was 81 years old.
Joe W. Blagg was born in Brownwood on November 8, 1919 to Joe Blagg and Mary O. Blagg. He graduated from Brownwood High School in 1937 and he attended Rice University in Houston from 1937 to 1941, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. At Rice University, he lettered in Track and Field in 1939, 1940, and 1941. After World War II, Mr. Blagg completed his studies for a master’s degree in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
In 1941, Joe W. Blagg enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps in which he served until honorably discharged in 1945. Mr. Blagg completed 25 bombing missions over Europe as a B-17 navigator with the U. S. Eighth Air Force 95th Bomb Group, situated in Horham, England. On March 4, 1944, he flew on the first daylight bombing raid over Berlin, Germany, a mission for which his bomb group was awarded a Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. At the end of World War II, Mr. Blagg had been awarded an E.T.O. Ribbon with two battle stars, an Air Medal with three clusters, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Joe W. Blagg married Mary Belle Watson on September 8, 1946 in Brownwood and four children were born to the marriage: Mary Margaret Blagg, Joe William Blagg (Didi), John Lee Blagg, and Michael Raymond Blagg.
For 42 years, Mr. Blagg had a distinguished and successful business career in Brownwood where he was partner and owner of Weakley-Watson, Inc. from 1948 to 1990.
He served as General Manager of the wholesale plumbing division of Weakley-Watson from 1952 to 1980, during which he opened and supervised wholesale plumbing warehouses throughout Texas in Brownwood, Midland, Lubbock, Killeen, Temple, and Waco.
In 1973, he served as President of the Wholesale Distributors Association. From 1980 to 1990, he worked in the retail division of Weakley-Watson, Inc.
As a Brownwood business leader, Mr. Blagg served as President of the Brownwood Jaycees, the Brownwood Chamber of Commerce, the Brownwood Industrial Foundation, and the Brownwood Rotary Club.
He also served on numerous other civic boards, including those of the Brownwood Public Library, the Brownwood Airport Board, and the Comanche Trail Council of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1965, he was chosen as the Outstanding Man over Age 35 in Brownwood.
Mr. Blagg was a member of the First Christian Church of Brownwood where he served on the board of directors. His personal life was dedicated to his family and he enjoyed the personal hobbies of travel and flying, having earned his private pilot’s wings in 1970. He was a member of the Brownwood Country Club where he loved to play golf. He played 72 holes of golf on November 8, 1991, his 72nd birthday.
Joe W. Blagg is survived by his wife and their four children and by four grandchildren, David Lee Blagg, Jeffrey Alan Blagg, Lezleigh Nicole Blagg and Perry Blagg. He is also survived by his one brother Raymond Blagg of San Angelo and by numerous nieces and nephews.