Joseph T. Houghton Jr's Obituary
Joseph T. Houghton, Jr. of Boca Raton, FL, 84, passed away peacefully on December 24, 2020 with his family by his side.
Joe was born April 4, 1936 in Havana, Cuba to his American parents Joseph T. Houghton, Sr. and Emily Tucker Houghton.
Joe grew up in Havana until he was 8 years old. The family then moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina where he lived until attending Purdue University. Joe graduated from Purdue in 1958 with a bachelors degree in Industrial Management. He later received his MBA from Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. At Purdue, he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
Joe met his lifelong love and partner, Phyllis (Shields) Houghton before his sophomore year, and married her on September 7, 1958. Besides doting on Phyllis, they both enjoyed golf and tennis throughout their marriage while raising their three children.
Joe is lovingly remembered as a truly kind and patient person, loved by family, friends and coworkers alike. He was a wonderful father and husband who devoted his life to his family. Throughout their lives, Joe and Phyllis enjoyed travel across the world, by themselves, with family, and on company trips, always participating in the fun to the fullest.
Joe spent almost the entirety of his working career of 40+ years in industrial sales with Loctite Corporation. As the company grew, his territory grew to include Florida and Central and South America and the Caribbean. He enjoyed using his fluent Spanish in covering those territories.
Those who will miss Joe the most include his wife Phyllis, sons Joseph T. Houghton III and his wife Beth, Mark Houghton and his wife Angie, and daughter Jennifer Houghton Cassidy and her husband Bill, his 10 grandchildren, and his sister “Susie” Hedges and her husband Paul. Other family members include in-laws, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, many nieces and nephews, 4 great-grandchildren, and his Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brothers. He also will be missed by multiple schoolmates from Argentina, with whom he has kept in contact over the years. He was reunited in Heaven with his parents.
Service to celebrate Joe’s life will be held in the chapel of Palm Beach Memorial Park Funeral Home at noon on Tuesday, December 29, 2020 with Reverend Andrew Sherman of St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church officiating. To keep his loved ones safe during the coronavirus pandemic, Joe’s wife and children and their spouses will be the only attendees.
So that his sister, many grandchildren, beloved nieces, nephews and their families, and other friends may attend virtually, the service will be streamed live via Zoom at the following link https://viewneral.zoom.us/j/97725325473?pwd=c0tFeDZWZ0VWMDR6Um1lUXI2cjk4UT09
Viewneral ID: 977 2532 5473
Password: 170011
We intend to have a slideshow of images from Joe’s life available at the same Zoom link, starting at approximately 11:45 AM.
Entombment will be at the Palm Beach Memorial Park Cemetery following his service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts be directed to St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church of Boca Raton at https://pushpay.com/g/stgregorysepiscopal?src=hpp.
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