Ollie Brinson “Rock” Raburn III
Ollie Brinson “Rock” Raburn III, a resident of Katy, Texas died on June 24th, 2021 at home. Born May 6th, 1950 in Amarillo to the late Wanda (née Kidd) & late Ollie Brinson Raburn, Jr. Rock was born in Amarillo and grew up in Andrews, Texas with his two younger siblings, Ginger and Chuck.
In 1969, Rock graduated from Andrews High School and attended Texas Tech in Lubbock. He met Frances Hayes in Andrews and they married on May 11th, 1974. While in college, Rock enjoyed photography and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from West Texas State University in Canyon, TX in 1974. He went to work at Continental Telephone Company followed by Amoco/BP. He worked in the West Texas oil fields and gas plant before moving to the Railroad Commission’s office.
In 1982, Rock & Frances moved to Houston for a year and a half before jetsetting to Antananarivo, Madagascar for two years. Upon the request of their Chow Chow, Hondo, the couple returned to the US and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. Here, Rock and Frances had two children - Neil and Marisa. After five years in Louisiana, the young family absconded back to Texas with a plethora of Cajun recipes in tow.
Rock and his family remained in Katy except for a two-year stint in Singapore. Though he was never an adventurous eater, he managed to survive the exotic stint. When Rock finally retired from BP as part of the Materials & Logistics Team, you could often find him enjoying 18 holes of golf. Most of all he enjoyed his family, being with them and knowing that each was growing their own interests and would always be there for each other.
Journeying through life with Rock has been a gift for his family. His love and support brought us this far. His memory will be with us all our years.
Rock is survived by his wife of 47 years, Frances Raburn; two children, Neil Raburn of Houston, and daughter, Marisa Lofland and husband Tandy of Houston; a sister, Ginger Shaw and husband David of Brighton, CO, and their daughter Caressa Shaw Baker and husband Steve of Denver, CO; a brother Chuck Raburn and wife Cindy of Concord, NC, and their sons Michael Raburn and wife Courtney and 3 children of Arlington, VA and Scott Raburn and wife Kari and 4 children of Concord, NC; Mary-Anita Raburn, Uncle Doug Raburn & wife Annie of Houston; Aunt Sue Raburn of Dumas; Aunt Margaret Raburn of San Antonio; Aunt Fran Brock of Oklahoma City; brother-in-law Dale Hayes and wife Kimberly of Katy and their children, Ross Hayes and wife Heather of Katy and 2 children, London Hayes of Manvel; sister-in-law Dana Marks and husband Kevin of New Braunfels and their children, Kate Whitlock and husband Zachary of Clyde and their 5 children, and Tye Marks & wife Maegan and one child; numerous cousins; and Carly, Rock’s Labradoodle.
Services are set for Monday, July 19, 2021,10:00am at Cinco Ranch Church of Christ, 6655 Mason Rd, Katy, TX 77450. The reception will follow at the church.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Houston Area Golf Coaches Association via PayPal at http://tinyurl.com/RockRaburn or mail to HAGCA c/o Joe Gibbons 20700 Kingsland Blvd., Katy, TX 77450
