December 7, 1940 — February 12, 2024
Memorial Service for John Feldt, age 83, of Sulphur Springs, TX will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, 2024 at Murray Orwosky Funeral Home, Sulphur Springs, TX. Rev. Ed Lantz will officiate. Mr. Feldt passed away on Monday, February 12, 2024 in Rowlett, TX.
John Joseph Feldt, Sr. was born on December 7, 1940 in Tulsa, OK to Morris and Johnnie (McGuire) VanValkenburg. After his father’s passing at an early age, John was raised by Harold Feldt. After high school, John attended Kemper Military School, a Junior College in Panama, studied Agriculture at Cornell, graduated from the University of Texas, and went on to complete Law School at the University of Houston. He taught Sunday school at First United Methodist Church in Sulphur Springs and was a member of the Grace Methodist Church.
John was a skilled trumpet and coronet player. He was offered a scholarship to the Julliard School of the Performing Arts but chose to practice Law. His practice in the early years of his career was primarily oil and gas, and real estate, both commercial and residential. He later specialized in Probate. He had been the General Counsel for a banking firm appointed by the Federal Reserve to clean up the FSLIC financial crisis of over 800 Texas banks in the late 1980’s. He later became the General Counsel for a national real estate developer in Dallas. During his 52-year law career, John mentored many young attorneys.
He was an enthusiastic historian of the Civil War. John, his wife Sharon and her mother, Birdie Lamkin moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and ran a Historic Bed & Breakfast, Edgewood Manor, for several years, hosting weddings, Civil War Reenactments, and the Bed & Breakfast’s annual Nights Before Christmas at Edgewood. During this time, John formed a Civil War band, The Tuscarora Brass, sponsored by Shenandoah University. The Tuscarora Brass, featuring original Civil War instruments and original music from the 26th North Carolina Band, played at many Civil War reenactments and events in the Shenandoah Valley and at Gettysburg National Park. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania Wildcat Historical CW Band and played with a group of musicians at a Civil War weeklong event in Vermont. John also wrote articles for several Civil War publications. He was an outstanding horseman and was both a Cavalry and Infantry reenactor while in Virginia.
He is survived by his loving wife of 34 years, Sharon Feldt. They were married in Dallas, TX on November 3, 1990.
John is preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Fred Feldt and Al Feldt; and grandparents that helped raise him, Billy and Mama D. McGuire.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Judes Childern’s Research Hospital at www.stjude.org or the Shriners Hospital at www.shrinerschildrens.org.
Arrangements are under the direction of Murray-Orwosky Funeral Home.The online register can be signed at www.murrayorwosky.com
