Carl S. Chilton, Jr.

BROWNSVILLE, TX. – Carl S. Chilton, Jr., longtime Brownsville businessman, community leader and author, passed away on Sunday, the 22nd of October 2023, in Rowlett, Texas. He was one hundred years old.

He was preceded in death by his wife of sixty-five years, Ruth Lewis Chilton; daughter, Carla Ann Hannah; his parents, Carl Sr., and Gladys Chilton; his stepmother, Eula Kell Chilton; and by his sister, Nancy Chilton Henderson. 

Chilton is survived by two daughters, Karen Schaefer (Edward) of Hagerstown, Maryland and Clarice Elliott (Steven) of Rockwall, Texas; son-in-law, Donald Hannah of Kingsland, Texas; five granddaughters: Catherine Schaefer, Anna Marie Schaefer Sire, Christine Hannah Mueller, Alyssa Hannah Francois, and Kaitlin Elliott; and nine great-grandchildren: Shea, Emmett, and Leon Scoles; Eugénie and Eléonore Sire; Avery and Theodore Mueller; Piper and Pierce Francois. 

Chilton was born May 23, 1923, in Roswell, New Mexico, and moved the following year with his parents to the Rio Grande Valley.

The family was living in Harlingen during the devastating 1933 hurricane and then moved in 1934 to Port Isabel where Carl Sr. became superintendent of schools. Carl Jr. played basketball and was in the school band at Port Isabel. He remembered marching with his Port Isabel classmates in the Charro Days parade during the earliest days of the community celebration.  

Chilton attended Texas A&I College in Kingsville for two years before World War II interrupted his education. He worked in Washington, D.C., for several months in the FBI Fingerprint Department until his active-duty assignment began.  He served in the U. S. Army Air Corps, flying B-26 twin-engine bombers. The 9th Air Force Division was stationed in France flying missions over Germany from 1944 to 1945. In one of those missions, his plane was badly damaged, forcing him to make a crash landing. Carl often spoke of the harsh conditions of living in a tent during the winter in France. His unit was enroute to the Pacific on V-J Day when his military career ended. 

Chilton later published Memories of a Military Pilot: 1942-1945, based on letters he wrote to his parents during his years in the military. In recent years, he talked about his war-time experiences as a frequent speaker to history classes at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley during their studies of WWII.

After his discharge from the military in late 1945, he resumed his college education at The University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1947 with a degree in accounting. A year later, he began teaching in a program for returning veterans at Brownsville Junior College, which later was renamed Texas Southmost College.

His first semester teaching was the college’s first semester of classes at its new campus at Fort Brown, and he was a member of the committee that selected the college’s new name from among those suggested by students.   

He passed the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination in 1950 and began working with another CPA, Bill Long, with whom he formed the Long Chilton, LLP accounting firm in 1951.  He spent thirty-seven years with Long Chilton before retiring in 1988. The organization grew Valley-wide with offices in Brownsville, Harlingen, and McAllen.

Chilton, who joined First United Methodist Church in 1950, met Ruth Lewis, who had moved to Brownsville from Batavia, Ohio. The couple were married June 16, 1951, when the former church building was located in downtown Brownsville.

The Chiltons built their home in 1964 on Media Luna Lake, a then-rural area where they raised their three daughters. One of Carl’s favorite past-times was sailing with his family on the lake. In the early years, they did not have city water, garbage, nor sewer service. Cattle grazed in the fields across the road.

Chilton was active in both community and professional activities. He served the Brownsville community in leadership positions in the First United Methodist Church, the Rotary Club, the United Fund (now United Way), the Gladys Porter Zoo, the Brownsville Public Utilities Board, and the Brownsville Tennis Association. 

In his professional life, he was state president of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants in 1979-80, representing the 14,000-member organization throughout the state.
Chilton always loved to write and authored more than a dozen books, including two on accounting practice published by Prentice Hall.  Successful Small Client Accounting Practice, which sold over 13,000 copies, and Chilton’s Guide to Professional Client Accounting Practice, were two of his more satisfying achievements. His article “Use of Controls in Accounting Firms” won the Lester Witte Award in 1977 for being the most useful article written for practitioners. He also wrote magazine articles on accounting and tax subjects and, for many years, wrote weekly articles on local history that appeared each Sunday in The Brownsville Herald.

It was after his retirement in 1988 that Chilton began to expand his writing career. His first project was tracing his family tree back to 1775 and producing a family history that included extensive research in Missouri. 

This was followed by a series of books describing the history of the Brownsville First United Methodist Church, the Port of Brownsville, the Brownsville airport, the Public Utilities Board, Gladys Porter Zoo, Texas Southmost College, and The University of Texas at Brownsville and Fort Brown. He wrote a history of area transportation and a book providing an overview of Brownsville history. He also published a book on the several long-time Brownsville families and one on Brownsville rivers and resacas.

Chilton loved the warm climate in the Rio Grande Valley, golfing, sailing, and playing tennis. As first president of the Brownsville Tennis Association in 1995, he served the first ball for the inaugural Carl Chilton Tennis Open honoring him in 2017. He provided leadership in raising funds and helping to establish the Brownsville Tennis Center, which opened in 2001. He was still enjoying the game at age ninety-six. Chilton moved to Rockwall, Texas, in 2019 at age ninety-six to live with his daughter Clarice and her husband, Steven Elliott.

The Celebration of his Life and Resurrection will be held at three o’clock in the afternoon on Monday, the 30th of October 2023, at the First United Methodist Church, 1225 Boca Chica Boulevard, Brownsville, Texas 78520. The service will be livestreamed and may be viewed at www.youtube.com/@fumcbrownsville2271.

In lieu of floral arrangements and customary remembrances, donations may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Brownsville in memory of Carl S. Chilton, Jr. 

Memories of Chilton may be shared at www.darlingmouser.com.

Local funeral arrangements directed by Steven R. Hieu Bailey and Staff have been entrusted to the care of Darling-Mouser Funeral Home at 945 Palm Boulevard in Brownsville, Texas 78520, (956) 546-7111.