Texas Section Leader, Dedicated Corpus Christi Engineer Wuensche Dies

Vernon Allen Wuensche, 66, active in the Texas Section and its Corpus Christi Branch, and a project designer for the city for more than three decades, died Dec. 25 at his home.

Wuensche, P.E., M.ASCE, began his career with the engineering consulting firm of Ogletree & Gunn of Corpus Christi and was next employed by Urban Engineering, where he worked on utility and wastewater management projects. He was then hired as a project engineer for the City of Corpus Christi.

Over the course of his career, Wuensche designed about $100 million worth of municipal/civil projects, including streets, bridges, utilities, drainage, solid-waste, wastewater, and marina facilities, and performed numerous sanitary and drainage studies. He was employed by the city a total of 33 years before retiring to enjoy his many hobbies. He was especially passionate about fishing, baseball, photography, and civil engineering history.

Wuensche joined ASCE in 1976. Among his numerous professional affiliations, he was proudest of his long-term memberships and leadership roles in the Corpus Christi Branch and the Texas Section, as well as in the Nueces Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE). Along with many other honors he received from the Texas Section of ASCE were the Professional Service Award, the Lifetime Service Award, and the History & Heritage Award. In 2007 he was named Engineer of the Year by the Nueces Chapter of TSPE. He achieved ASCE Life Member status in 2016.

To be able to receive his B.S. in civil engineering in 1974 from Texas A&I University in Kingsville, Wuensche worked his way through college as a carpenter and repair technician in the gas industry. In 1994 he received an M.S. in environmental engineering, also from Texas A&I.