Funeral services for Joe Weldon Campbell, 85, of Livingston, Texas will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, December 16, 2017 in the Cochran Funeral Home Chapel in Livingston, Texas with Pastor Saundra Jones officiating. Interment will follow in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Livingston, Texas. Visitation will be held from 12:00 p.m. until the service begins at 2:00 p.m. in the Cochran Funeral Home.

Mr. Campbell was born on July 25, 1932 in Center, Texas to parents, Carrol Campbell and Beula (Martin) Campbell, and passed away on December 12, 2017 in Frisco, Texas. He is preceded in death by his parents; wife, Barbara Ann Campbell; eldest son, Joey Ray Campbell; and brothers and sisters, Eunice Morrison, Edward Campbell, Walter Campbell, Maurice Campbell, Mannie Campbell, Eugene Campbell, Johnnie Campbell and Doyle Campbell.

During his life, Joe attended the school of hard knocks. He was employed with Phillips Petroleum Company and The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union. He was also the Vice President of the Texas AFL-CIO, Harris County Hospital District – Board of Managers, Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, and many other Union Labor and Community positions. Joe was awarded the Outstanding Union and Community Leader and was inducted into the Texas Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Joe married the love of his life, Barbara Ann Hughes, March 29, 1956. This year would have been their 61 ^st anniversary. He was a loving son, brother, uncle, husband, father and grandfather to his parents; his many siblings and nieces and nephews; his wife, Barbara; his sons, Joey and Herman; and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As a loyal family man, he always provided for his family and extended family members.

Being a union member and later a union leader, Joe fought and stood up for the rights of many union members in the refineries up and down the Pasadena Freeway to get the best wages and benefits possible by negotiating union contracts and defending the workers to keep their jobs to minimize layoffs.  He, also, fought politically for unions and workers for help make working conditions better, safer and more equitable. John Sharp, former Texas Comptroller, called Joe, "Mr. 100%," because Joe once promised John Sharp the support of every delegate at a Texas AFL-CIO COPE convention and delivered.

While other kids picked sports figures as their heroes, his son, Herman has always considered his father his hero. Joe helped many, many people and was loved and respected by so many relatives, friends and colleagues. Through his dealings with the union and politics, Joe was close friends with many famous and influential people like TV actors, labor leaders, judges, politicians and many lawyers and lawmakers across Texas and the nation.

As an avid outdoorsman Joe loved playing golf, hunting and fishing. The walls at the Campbell Cabin are populated with numerous hunting and fishing trophies as testimony. Joe even had an opportunity to play one hole of golf at St. Andrews Golf Course in Scotland while on vacation there, because he told them he was a Campbell. Before stating his lineage, he had been told that the golf course was completely booked six months in the future.

Joe was a great and generous man who will never be replaced. He will be sorely missed by so many.

He is survived by his sons, Herman Doyle Campbell and wife, Dianne Christine Buchberg Campbell and Joey Ray Campbell and wife, Maria Sosa Campbell; grandchildren, George Robert Buchberg Campbell, Danica Paige Buchberg Campbell, Ray Weldon Campbell and Barbara Marie Campbell; and great-grandchildren, Kyleigh and Aiden Campbell; along with numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

In lieu of buying flowers or plants, please make a donation in Joe's name to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas located at 815 Market St, Galveston, TX 77550.

"When a great man dies, for years the light he leaves behind him, lies on the paths of men."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Cochran Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Please sign our online guestbook at www.cochranfh.com