Joe Leslie Wooley, of Oak Ridge North, Texas, passed away on August 11 , 2022.
He was born in Waxahachie, Texas on May 2, 1945. He experienced a wonderful upbringing and always relished these times. He was a star baseball and football player at Waxahachie High School and went on to play on scholarship at Kilgore College. He married his partner for life, Sheri, in 1965.
Joe’s career path took him from on-the-road sporting goods sales in his early 20’s, to a successful retail clothing start-up from a Freeport beachside stand that expanded to a Houston store – one of the first “T-shirt shops” in the city. From there, he worked within the wholesale sportswear industry and moved his family to Oahu, Hawaii in the 1980’s to establish a surf-themed clothing line, featuring the era’s great, big wave surfers. In the late 1980’s, he entered the golf industry with a self-conceived idea for distributing second generation equipment. This included he and his sons scuba diving for golf balls throughout south Texas and southwestern Louisiana. The last phase of his career was a construction-industry start-up providing EPA required installations. Not able to tolerate idle callused hands, Joe worked at the local Tractor Supply store as his final vocational curtain call.
Joe was endlessly loving to his wife, children and grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife, Sheri; mother, Naomi Ruth Wooley; children, Joe Leslie Jr. and spouse Allison Wooley (Montgomery, TX); Chance and spouse Amie Wooley (Portland, OR); Laura and spouse Tom Price (The Woodlands, TX); his adoring grandchildren, Chandler Wooley, Madison and spouse Colton Timberlake; Macey Calhoun, Justin Montanari, Brooke Wooley, Payton Calhoun, Jack Calhoun, Vivian Wooley, and Ida Wooley; and siblings, Mike Wooley, Judy Merrell, Pat McDonald and Butch Wooley. Joe was preceded by his father, Horace Paul Wooley, brother-in-law Mike Davis, brother-in-law John Merrell, and nephew Karl Leslie.
A series of celebrations of life will be held in Oak Ridge North, Waxahachie, and Dallas TX. Date/time TBD.