Roll Call Tribute

Daniel E. "Dan" Cegelski 

June 30, 1938 - December 30, 2023 

Daniel Edmund Cegelski was born June 30, 1938, to parents Max and Genevieve (Kopycinski) Cegelski in Rosenberg, Texas. He was born at home with his dad’s cousin, Mary Felchak, assisting as midwife.

Dan grew up on a farm outside of Rosenberg, attending Holy Rosary School through 8th grade. He graduated from Lamar Consolidated High School in 1957 then worked his way through Texas A&M University where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets. Dan graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics. He always had a love of reading and learning. He changed majors four times because each new course brought another interest in science, math, physics, and engineering. While at A&M, he was drafted into the Army just weeks before his graduation. A big regret was that his parents did not get to see him walk at graduation.

Dan married Anita Gayle Miller of Rosenberg on August 25, 1962. He decided to extend his Army obligation so he could get the training school he wanted. After basic training in Ft Polk, Louisiana, Dan and Anita went to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey where he attended a year of Army Signal Corps schooling in cryptography. Following his schooling, he was assigned to Dyess AFB in Abilene, Texas. He reported for duty on the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

While Dan and Anita were based at Fort Dyess, their first daughter Connie was born in September, 1964. After Dan’s honorable discharge, the family moved to Rosenberg where their daughter Julie was born in December, 1965.

After the Army, Dan’s first job was with Dresser Industries. When NASA came to Houston, he accepted a job with Lockheed, and the family moved to League City in 1967. With Lockheed, Dan worked with the Apollo Space project for seven years. He took great pride in his work on the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. Next, Dan accepted a position with University Computing Company as a salesman selling “computer time” to companies for complex computations. As he progressed through their computer support training, he discovered he loved to talk and teach others about computers. In 1979, he went to work for Tenneco, continuing his new-found love of training others for computer work. He traveled the pipeline, teaching workers in the field offices and seeing our beautiful country. Anita was able to travel with him from the east to the west coast. These were among the happiest memories of their marriage. Dan retired from Tenneco in 1997.

Dan and Anita were very active for many years with the Catholic Youth Organization in their parish church St Mary’s in League City. Dan enjoyed seeing the young people, with whom they worked and played, grow up to be productive adults. For leisure, Dan and Anita bought property in East Texas Piney Woods. With daughters Connie and Julie, they built a log cabin, chopping down many of the trees themselves. The cabin was a big source of pride for Dan.

He also took great pride in his daughters being graduates of Aggieland, their career achievements, his Polish heritage, and especially the life he shared for 61 years of marriage with his first love, Anita.

From his early life, Dan had a passion for learning anything new. In Catholic grade school, the nuns allowed students to check out a single book of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and Dan would bring an encyclopedia book home, read it through, and check out another. Throughout his life, he was a voracious reader of fiction and nonfiction, Natural Geographic, newspapers, and news magazines. He had strong but informed opinions on many subjects which he would share with friends and strangers alike. To know Dan, was to know he loved a good discussion on any wide range of subjects.

Throughout his life, Dan was a beloved husband to Anita, a proud Dad of his daughters Connie, Julie, and son-in-law Robert, a filial son, brother, and uncle, an interesting friend, and a devoted Catholic. He will be remembered for his quirky sense of humor, his admonitions to young people to “Stay in school,” and his mantra in later life to anyone who listened, “God was good to me.”

He will be greatly missed by all, but those who loved him are grateful that he is now at peace with his God after his last years of health issues. Dan spent the last three plus years at The Cottages Memory Care Facility in League City where he passed away December 30, with Anita, Connie, Julie, and Robert at his side. The family would like to thank the staff of The Cottages for their loving and dedicated care of Dan, whom they called “Dan The Man”– which he loved! A special thank you to Lori Steiger, Nurse Practitioner at The Cottages, for managing Dan’s complex health issues and providing guidance to his family regarding his care. Also, Dan’s family will be forever grateful for the attentive and loving care provided by Nurse Nikki Venegas of Gentiva Hospice during the last months and days of his life. For three years, Dan’s daughters Connie and Julie were dedicated caretakers also with their frequent visits and loving attention to his needs. No daughters could have given more filial affection to their dad.

Dan was predeceased by his parents Max and Genevieve Cegelski, his in-laws George and Jeffie Miller, his older brother T. J. Cegelski, brother-in-law Paul McClure, and nephews Brent McClure and Baine McClure. He is survived by his wife Anita Miller Cegelski of League City, daughter Connie Fulbright of Waco, daughter Julie Wolter and husband Robert of Rosenberg, sister Maxine Phelan and husband Herb of Rosenberg, brother Ed Cegelski and wife Lynette of Stafford, sister-in-law Dorothy Cegelski, sister–in–law Jean McClure and brother -in-law Ray Miller and wife Gayla, numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and friends. He will be missed by all.

The family will receive friends on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at 9:30am followed by a Funeral Mass at 10:30am at St. Mary Catholic Church, 1612 East Walker, League City, Texas 77573 with Father John Rooney presiding. Entombment will take place at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery in Dickinson, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to the Alzheimer’s Association online at https://act.alz.org/site/Donation2?21641.donation=form1&df_id=21641 or to a charity of your choice.