FAMILY

Frederick Eugene "Gene" Juby was an only child born to Fred and Dolly Juby on November 7, 1942 in Briggs, Texas.

Gene passed away on April 2, 2019 at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, Texas, with family members by his side; he was 76 years old.

Gene is survived by his six children, Shaunesse, Sherri, Sharon, Cary, Craig and Sabrina along with their spouses, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

In 1960, at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gene met the love of his life Sue Ellen "Susie" Steinsberger while she was visiting family in Austin. They were married on August 13, 1960 in a double wedding, and would spend 55 years together until Susie’s death on June 15, 2016. Gene said, “We instantly clicked, and I knew the moment I met her I was going to marry her.”

CAREER

Gene was a journeyman plumber during the 1960’s. He worked on several large commercial buildings in Austin.

About 1970, Gene went in business with two of his best friends, Eldon and Rick. The three of them purchased a fiberglass chopper gun and a dune buggy mold from a man out in Phoenix, AZ and started their own fiberglass business making dune buggies. That’s why today at his shop you may see some traces of dune buggies and VWs.

Gene came up with the idea of making fiberglass septic tanks, and the septic tank business was started. Later Gene bought out his two friends’ interest in the business and ran his septic tank business for more than 30 years.

During the 80's, Gene and Susie would buy cars and trucks at various auto auctions around Texas and resell the vehicles. They helped several of their friends buy cars at cost. In the last couple of years Gene was back at various auctions buying trucks and equipment.

In the 80's Gene was involved in buying and selling fuel and chemicals in the Houston area while running his fiberglass business.

During the 90's, Gene turned his interest into the boat business. He worked alongside his wife Susie before her death in 2016 making their own fiberglass boats, buying and selling boats, and boat repairs. Gene continued running his boat business right up until his death.

INTERESTS

Gene and his family along with several relatives and friends would go camping at Shaw Island at Lake Buchanan when the kids were young. He loved taking his dune buggies and boats to the lake. This was one of his favorite activities. Everyone would always say it was hard to come back to civilization after camping at Shaw Island.

Gene loved fishing and going to the Texas coast; so much so that he and his friend Wayne bought a fishing cabin together in Sea Drift, TX. Later he sold all of his interest in the cabin. He missed going to the coast so much, that recently he started looking into cabins again.

Gene was an outdoorsman and during the 70’s and 80’s he went several times to Colorado and West Texas.

One of Gene’s favorite TV shows was American Pickers – that was right up his alley because of his passion for collecting.

Gene loved going out to eat with his family and friends; Mexican food was his favorite.

Gene’s liked country music and old songs from the 50’s.

Gene had so many life long friends all through his life and having these friends was especially important to him.

Gene was always happy to see his grandchildren and great grandchildren. These kids were a large part of his life.

GENE WAS A JACK OF ALL TRADES

Gene could easily figure out just about any an issue; making things work in the most unconventional ways. You could say he was jack of all trades, long before MacGyver was on TV. People would always say if Gene had some duct tape and bailing wire he could fix anything.

When Gene and Susie were first married they got stranded in West Texas with a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere. Gene took some starter fluid and sprayed it around the rim of the tire and lit a match on the rim which caused the tire to auto inflate. They were able to continue driving to the nearest town so they could get the tire fixed. (Of course the family’s not recommending this procedure.)

Gene used to talk about how he and his friends would go dune buggy riding out in West Texas and the tires kept running over mesquite thorns and brush, which caused the tires to go flat. Gene made his own kind of “Fix a Flat” and would fill latex paint and sawdust into all of his dune buggy tires. A couple of Gene’s friends said it really worked.

One of Gene’s favorite answers to how long something was going to take to get fixed was “A couple of hours.” All of his friends will fully understand this statement.

WHY BUY SOMETHING WHEN YOU CAN BUILD IT?

Gene’s built three of his houses. His father Fred was a superintendent and drew house plans for Austin home builder HT Baker. With Fred’s help on Gene’s first house, Gene knew exactly what to do when building his other two homes.

Since Gene was in the fiberglass business, why not build a fiberglass swimming pool - so he built his first one back in the 70s at his cousin’s house, and then later built his own swimming pool.

In the 60’s, when large stereo cabinets were popular, Gene wanted one so he made his own out of furniture grade wood and installed all of the stereo components.

Susie wanted a lawn aerator to pull behind the riding lawn mower, so instead of buying one Gene welded her one out of a metal cylinder and rebar. It worked great!

SOME OLD WRITINGS FROM GENE’S MOM DOLLY.

Dolly said when Gene was a baby he used to call a nickel a “Dagerdiddle”

She said Gene was a happy little boy and she and Fred really enjoyed raising him.

Dolly talked about how Gene even as baby loved playing with all kinds of tools and a little wagon his dad had made him.

HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHT

University of Texas Tower Shooting - August 1, 1966 - Before Noon

Every weekday around mid morning, Susie would take her deaf daughter Sherri (4 years old) to a special class for the deaf at the University of Texas, in Austin; and bring along her other two daughters, Shaunesse (5 years old) and Sharon (4 months old). Around noon after Sherri's class was over; Susie with the three girls would leave and walk right next to the University of Texas Tower.

On Monday, August 1, 1966, Susie wasn't feeling good and had decided to skip Sherri's class and stay home with the girls. On that very same day, right before noon, 25 year old Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the University of Texas Tower and started shooting people below. He shot 43 people, killing 13 of them.

Gene didn't know Susie had stayed home that day, and was horrified at the news on the radio; he thought his wife and girls were down at the University of Texas while the shooting was going on. He soon found out, everyone was safe at home.

IN CLOSING

Gene believed in and loved Jehovah God with all his heart right up until his death.

He will be greatly missed by all of his family and friends.