James Marlar
September 20, 1952 ~ September 2, 2020
James David Marlar was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, on September 20, 1952, to the Reverend Doyle Marlar and Floyce Marlar of Hooks, Texas. He graduated from Hooks High School in 1971 with honors, and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science and a double major in math and psychology from East Texas State University in Commerce, Texas. From there, James attended the University of Texas at Arlington, earning a Masters of Math and continuing post-graduate work. He began his employment with Ling-Temco-Vought in Arlington before being recruited for a move to California to begin top secret work for Northrop Grumman on the original Stealth Bomber, where he was a noted computer-aided design/ computer-aided manufacturing engineer until his retirement in 2019. After moving back to a ranch in Granbury, Texas, 20 years ago, James took great joy in spending time with his family and friends from the area and from all across the country. He was a devoted family man, a devoted husband, and a devoted Christian.
James is survived by his wife Sherry Marlar; his three sisters, Marilyn Huckabee and husband Randy of Gatesville, Texas, Kathryn Marlar of Addison, Texas, Deborah Goodwin and husband Dan of Carrollton, Texas. He is also survived by his many nieces and nephews, who loved and admired him immensely. James left to be with the Lord at 11:35 am on Wednesday, September 2, 2020, after an exhausting battle with West Nile virus. His family will sustain his memory.
Services will be 2:00 p.m. Sunday, September 6, 2020 at Harris Chapel Cemetery under the direction of Reeder-Davis Funeral Home in Hughes Springs.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to MD Anderson Cancer Center at gifts.mdanderson.org.
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I am deeply saddened by the news of James' passing. I worked with James for many years while we both worked at Northrop on the B2 bomber. James was as good a man as I have ever met. He and I had not talked in many years but I shall miss him none the less.
I met James at Northrop Aerospace in 1986.. before we met in person I called him on the phone and said ‘ I found a bug in your software ” he said ‘ who’s this whipper snapper ” and we laughed so hard.. we met shortly after and became best of friends.. we shared interests in math and science and our families spent a lot of time together when he lived in Huntington Beach.. we became like brothers and talked and visited on a regular basis.. Keith Kreszyn and I would make a yearly pilgrimage to his ranch to visit for 10 days at a time.. we 3 amigos are affectionately self dubbed the bo’s.. jimbo , kakbo and kenbo.. were brothers .. and we’ve come to know his friends and family and enjoyed our visits with many of them.. James was the most adorable, generous, intelligent, loyal friend a person could ever have.. he will be missed so much.. RIP my friend !!
My heart breaks. I have lived next door to James and Sherrie since they moved back to Texas. We became instant friends, and over the years have referred to one another as "brothers". It's not often you can have a next door neighbor that you refer to as a family member. Yet, that's the way we felt about each other. We've laughed together, cried together, helped each other out as needs arose. I once helped him wrestle a calf that had managed to get his foot caught in some metallic ring that was wedged on……and he would at times push my goats heads back out of the fence they managed to get their horns locked in. Those and a thousand more stories are some of my fondest memories…some of which we discussed and laughed until we cried as we would sit around the kitchen island, or table as we would sometimes come up with some clever inside jokes, such as "you could have gone all day without saying that"….or "you nearly burned the barn down", or "how's your spit in the eye sister".
To James' family members, I say you lost a gem, and I know that yall know that. I send my deepest sympathy to you all. I will forever miss my friend and brother in Christ. There will not be another like him….
Kenny Dodd
I am still in disbelief of James' passing. I have known James & Sherry since Kenny and I met in 2008. The first time Kenny brought me to Granbury, our first stop was to meet James & Sherry for dinner. They enjoyed reminding me every time that I have seen them since that night, including a few weeks ago when I took them for James' eye doctor appt, that they told Kenny that they were keeping me, whether he did or not. They have always made me feel so special! They were much more than neighbors, they were family. They attended many family birthday parties, family reunions, graduations, etc with us because we considered them family. Our grandbabies loved them and ran out to the fence to meet them every time they came in and out of the driveway. No matter how many times a day it was, they were always so sweet to take the time to talk to them. James was a very special person and will be greatly missed! Heaven has definitely gained an angel!
I first met James when he and Sherry went out to dinner with our family 1988. I was immediately struck by his warm, jovial smile. He was one of the sweetest, most accepting and smartest people I’ve known. I enjoyed discussing many topics with him. He made everyone in our family feel like we were the most important person in the room. I will miss his love most of all. I am happy that he is with the Lord.
The passing of James has left my heart so sad. He was an amazing high school friend, and we reconnected many years ago. His humor, love of Sherry and all his family, and Christian faith were so inspiring! The picture is from last fall when he and Sherry meet Ed and md for breakfast near Granbury. I treasure that bit of time. Please know sweet sisters and Sherry that our prayers are with you. Our consolation is that we will see James again. Sherri
James and I met in Pico Rivera at Northrop Grumman in 1989 after I transplanted from Michigan. I remember thinking that ‘he must be some important person’ since he had his own office in our bay. Turns out he was this super math whiz that developed most of the surface evaluators for our in-house CAD (Design) System ‘NCAL’. I was hired to work on the CAM (Manufacturing) System, ‘WISE-PD’. Since the two systems had to collaborate, this was my chance to get to know this math guru! Our relationship took off from there. We used to joke over the years that one of the NCAL surfaces was actually named after him, the J-Surf! Retired James even joined us in a work meeting two days before he went into the hospital to try and help out with some code he was familiar with. He was always eager to help.
James was many things but above all, he was a devoted family man. I can remember how excited he was when he purchased the Granbury Ranch in 2000 and moved back to Texas so he could ‘reconnect’ and be closer to family. Kenny and I kept in touch after that and visited him and Sherry many many times. Over the years we had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with many of James’ extended family and other local friends. James and Sherry were inseparable, especially in the last couple of years and there was never a doubt that they were made for each other. Sure, there was always a lot of verbal jousting flying around but anyone that knew them knew that they cared deeply for each other.
Aside from working on home improvement projects together, performing our own fireworks show on the 4th, or even watching The Three Stooges, our favorite pastime truly was sitting on the back patio, enjoying a cigar, and just talking about anything and everything. The outstanding view from this vantage point toward Comanche Peak in Glen Rose is truly spectacular! To one of the smartest, most thoughtful, and kindest persons I will ever know all wrapped into one! RIP Jimbo, you will be greatly missed.
So sorry to hear of James sudden illness and passing. We worked together for many years on the B-2 Spirit Bomber at Northrop Grumman in Pico Rivera and Hawthorne, CA. He was the smartest, most jovial and warmhearted person I have ever had the pleasure to know and will be greatly missed. Our prayers are with James and Sherry at this difficult time.
We lost James much too soon. It helped so much, to try to say goodbye to my boyhood friend of more than 50 years, to hear at the funeral Sunday from his dear sisters and so many other kinfolk and longtime friends. The connections James made with all of us will last for always. For me, James, you will always be forever young, just the way you were all those priceless high school and college days we shared. So long ago now, but still seems like yesterday. Rest in peace, brother James.
I was both shocked and deeply saddened by the news that James had passed. I was fortunate in my career to make many friendships that went beyond the workplace. Of those friendships, I felt very fortunate to count James as a special one.
James was honest, considerate, and very caring of everyone. A very special person that left an everlasting impression.
I think the guest book message written by Keith Kreszyn was particularly powerful and well written. Those words sharing great memories trigger my own memories of the great times that I will never forget.
I miss James. His intellectual curiosity was mind blowing. I'm surprised he never solved Fermat's last theorem. Or perhaps he did. i know he was working on it. Besides everything else, he was a brilliant mathematician. Love to his family.