Alan Ernest Ware

ALAN ERNEST WARE

The remarkable life of Alan Ernest Ware came to a peaceful end Wednesday, July 3, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas, in the company of his devoted wife and loving friends. He was 69 years old.

Alan will be remembered for his generous, kind, smart, and sometimes goofy spirit. His compassion for and commitment to helping animals who cannot help themselves was well known and widely admired. His friends among the rescue community were part and parcel of his daily routine these past nine years; he felt his life was far richer for being part of that community. There are a legion of friends and animals past and present who responded to his immense capacity for empathy and love. 

Alan's parents were Bobby Glyn Ware (d. 2013) and Dolly Jean Bevis Ware (d. 2017). Alan is survived by his wife of 34 years, Katherine Bres Ware, and by his brother, Stephen Franklin Ware, his aunt, Alice Ware Bryson, and their families. He also held Katherine's family as close to his heart as his own family, having spent many holidays and vacations in their company.

Alan graduated from Paschal High School in Fort Worth in 1973 and enlisted in the Army straight out of school. He proudly served for five years, was stationed in Turkey, and rose to the rank of Sargeant. After the Army he began a professional career in IT as a customer engineer for IBM in Lubbock, Dallas, and later in Fort Worth. In between, Alan was invited by a friend to take a break from fixing one mainframe after another and joined the technical staff of the Dallas Theater Center where he would serve as the master electrician. In the summer of 1988, he was working as Technical Director for the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas ("[anything but] free and easy") when he and Katherine met. Not to be forgotten was the brief time spent as a co-owner/operator of ABS Automotive ("Alan Bob and Steve") in Fort Worth on Forest Park Blvd. Alan was a fixer. He fixed things. He had an engineer's mind, and a carpenter's way with tools. No project was beyond his skill, and no topic was beyond his ability to explain. 

As much as he enjoyed doing things with his hands and his mind, Alan cherished time spent in his "favorite room in the house", the porch. He was always ready to visit with friends and neighbors when they happened by.

A local service to honor Alan is being planned for the evening of Monday, July 15th at 6pm at the Marty Leonard Community Chapel (3131 Sanguinet St.). Interment will follow at a later time in the cemetery at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Brusly, Louisiana, where he will be among many in his wife Katherine's family who knew and loved him dearly.

Alan would be so cheered to have those who knew him support an animal rescue organization in his memory. He was an integral part of Meowtown Animal Rescue in Fort Worth (facebook.com/MeowtownAR). 

His wife Katherine asks that you please consider donating blood, if you are able. It was humbling to watch Alan receive such a precious gift, multiple times. There is no substitute.

The family would like to thank those who provided such extraordinary care in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Baylor All Saints Medical Center and, for four years prior, at Texas Oncology: Dr. Rachel Theriault, Lauren and Jessica, the amazing Sam that first night at Baylor All Saints and seven more nights after that, Hannah and Kendall the first four days in ICU, Dr. Abassi, May, Dr. Argueta Sosa, Dr. Shori, Dr. Mo, Dr. TK, Dr. Hobbs, Laura, Samantha, Darcy, Jeanette, Angelica, Lindsay, Mollie, Michael - every single clinician who treated Alan (and Katherine) as a whole human being. Your work is a calling and you will not be forgotten. Nor will the angels who flew to Katherine's side to support her when Alan could not... Connie, Steve, Mary Beth, Gayle, Vaughan, Vange, Landry, Michele, Chris, Anna, and Mary Kay. May you all know how much Alan loved you.

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