George William Wilhite, Jr.

On July 22, 2025, my brother Todd and I lost our father and my mother lost a loving and devoted husband. George W. Wilhite was a truly great Man. During the course of his life, he developed a reputation as being an extremely well respected and renowned Board-Certified Civil Trial Lawyer. During his over 65-year career, he tried over 200 trials before a jury; a feat that puts him well within the one percent among his peers. His life was guided by an unwavering ethical and moral standard that served him well throughout. If there was ever anyone who epitomized the phrase, “to know him is to love him” It was George William Wilhite.

Our father came into this world on September 19, 1939. Born in Merkel, Texas, George was raised by his parents, Mary and George W. Wilhite, Sr. He grew up in a home on Cherry Lane in Austin in what is now known as Terry Town; now one of the most sought after residential areas in Austin. There, he attended Austin Highschool. His mother taught theater out of a studio in their home wherein she often recruited George to perform in many of her productions. This training ultimately served him well later in life in his legal career as an extremely persuasive, and at times somewhat theatrical trial lawyer.

As a student athlete, he played multiple sports but excelled in the high jump, and in fact he came in first place in a city-wide mete as a junior. It was there he also met his high school sweetheart, Peggy Jean Russell. Right out of a fairy tale, they started dating when our mom was only 16 and he 15. They married shortly after high school

While attending the University of Texas, Dad worked continuously with the Fuller Brush Company and then for the Durham Business School selling college level business courses, enabling our parents to live lives better than most college students. After under-grad, Dad was admitted to UT Law where he graduated with honors. Upon graduation, my parents moved to Houston where he began his legal career.

Our parents raised this family in a home they build on the shores of Cypress Creek on Kuykendahl Road in 1969. There, we lived for 35 years, albeit through a fire in 1976 and a flood in 1995, both requiring a complete and total re-build. In the early 2000’s our folks sold their home and his office building and built a Texas Longhorn Cattle Ranch in Navasota, Texas. Dad died peacefully in this amazing home he built for this family.

George is survived by his wife, Peggy, his two sons, Jay and Todd Wilhite, his grandsons, Quentin and Christian Wilhite, his granddaughter, Miranda Hes and her husband Avy, and daughters-n-law, Melissa and Erin Wilhite.