William (Bill) Ray Streun was born December 18, 1939, in Sherman, Grayson County, Texas. He died of cancer July 12, 2012, in Seguin, Texas.

He and his wife Gail Elizabeth Moore Streun were married in Sherman, Texas, July 30, 1964. Gail and their son Nathan Edward Streun survive him. Bill was predeceased by his parents, Mary Genevieve ("Gen") Everheart Streun and Frank Merton Streun, and his sister-in-law Phyllis Moore Sutton.

He is also survived by his mother-in-law, (Lena) Irene Moore; brother-in-law Vern Sutton, his son Michael and wife Beatrice, and grandson Conner; brother John Arnold Streun II and wife Mary, their three children, their spouses, and their grandchildren; his paternal cousins Maurine Pevehouse McCluer, Merrilee Streun Leatherman, LaRose Streun Seltzer, and Melody Streun Ax; his maternal cousins Ann Everheart Dryden, John Charles Christian, Martha Everheart Haynes, and A.T. Langford; other cousins of his and Gail's, too numerous to mention; and friends around the world.

As a very small child, Bill lived in Sherman, Bonham, and Brownsville, Texas. Then Bill and his family moved to Mexico when he was about 10. They lived in Torreón, Coahuila; Monterrey, Nuevo Leon; and Mexico City, DF. Bill was enrolled in a Jesuit military boarding school, Instituto Francés de la Laguna, in Gómez Palacio, Durango, where he quickly learned to speak Spanish with a Mexican accent. He remained fluent throughout his life, which served him well personally and throughout his career. Subsequently he attended the American High Schools in Monterrey and in Mexico City, where he made lifelong friends. Just before his senior year in high school, the family moved to Matamoros, Tamaulipas. He went to Brownsville High School (across the border) for one semester and graduated in January 1957.

After graduation, Bill joined the U.S. Navy. He was proud of his service in the Navy. He liked this quotation (although he said "man or woman"):
"… any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.'"
President John F. Kennedy, 1 August 1963, in Bancroft Hall at the U. S. Naval Academy
He encouraged all young people to join the armed services, to serve their country and to achieve maturity. He was a member of American Legion Post 245 in Seguin.

Following his Navy Service, Bill attended Austin College, Sherman, Texas. Bill earned a BA in Economics and Business, where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship nominee in Economics, in three years, working his way through with part- and full-time jobs, the last of which was at Grayson County State Bank (Sherman), beginning his career in the banking field.

Bill learned how to do every job in every area of Grayson bank, short of cooking and cleaning. This training program was ideal preparation both for running a bank and for becoming a superlative consultant, especially in bank operations, strategic planning, and risk management. He was soon elected as a bank officer.

Education and staying current were important to him, and Bill was always learning, reading, and growing in knowledge. He was a graduate of the Banking Schools at Southern Methodist, Columbia and Dartmouth universities. He was most proud of being a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School (1976-1977), as one of their youngest students.

During his consulting career, he was with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell (now KPMG) in Houston and much later in Dallas, where he later was a partner (with engagements in the U.S. and Latin America). He had also been a senior manager with the Dallas office of Price Waterhouse in their National Banking Office (with engagements in Latin America and the Caribbean). In 1970, Bill was elected Executive Vice President of American National Bank, Austin, Texas. In 1974, he became President, CEO, and part owner of First National Bank, Mesquite, Texas. He also worked at Bank Systems, a bank consulting and software firm, and several years as an independent financial institutions consultant, with both domestic work and foreign engagements for the World Bank and USAID. He also volunteered for several months with the Citizens Democracy Corps at BIG Bank in Warsaw, Poland.

After retirement, Bill and Gail moved to Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico, where they especially enjoyed the opportunity to talk with people from around the world, and their participation in a World Affairs discussion group. They moved to Seguin in 2009, largely because of discomfort with the deteriorating conditions in Mexico.

Bill's hobbies included reading, gourmet cooking (including winning some recipe awards and completing some short cooking schools), writing stories about his Navy years, staying fluent in Spanish with others at the Seguin Library, volunteering as a translator with the Guadalupe County RSVP tax program, keeping fit, and drinking coffee and enjoying lively conversation with friends at the GRMC Wellness Center.

Bill was always up for a discussion on almost any topic. Throughout his life, he was a voracious reader with diverse interests. We will always remember his curiosity and depth of interest in many areas, especially regarding Mexico. He had an incredible store of wide-ranging knowledge and experiences.

One of his friends wrote this week: "Bill was probably the most intelligent person I have known. … He was quite a guy. He had friends all over the world. He had the capacity to make and keep these friendships which I attribute to his intelligence and the attraction this had to (those) who shared and enjoyed his intellect and humor."
A true raconteur, Bill had a wealth of interesting stories he loved to share. We will miss discussing national and world affairs on a daily basis. Life with Bill was never boring. We will miss him so much.

A memorial gathering will be held later in the Dallas area, where the family lived for many years. Those interested in attending should inform the family. Bill's cremains will be buried later at a family cemetery.

If desired, memorial gifts may be made to these organizations which were important to him:

• The United States Navy Memorial, 701 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC 20004, (202) 737-2300 ; www.navymemorial.org
• Friends of the Library, c/o Seguin Public Library, 707 E College St., Seguin, TX 78155
• Or, to the charity of your choice