Remembering Harry McGraw

Words: Dan Kamys

The masonry industry has lost one of its great teachers and craftsmen with the passing of Harry Edward McGraw, who died April 26, 2026, in Houston, Texas, at the age of 93.
A Navy veteran and a 2016 inductee into the MCAA Masonry Hall of Fame, Harry built a career that spanned more than six decades and touched virtually every corner of the trade. He began at age 17 as an apprentice at J.E. Hoover Masonry in Shreveport, Louisiana, and climbed every rung the industry has: laborer, apprentice, bricklayer and stone mason, foreman, superintendent, general superintendent, vice president of operations, and ultimately association leader. He didn't skip steps. He earned each one.

Twenty of those years came at Dee Brown Masonry Company, where he became General Superintendent of the Houston office. Six more were spent at Korfil, Inc., where he rose from architectural representative to Vice President and used his command of wall systems to troubleshoot for clients across the country. He spent another seventeen years at Lucia, Inc. of Houston as Vice President of Operations before stepping into association leadership as Executive Director of the Texas Masonry Council, a role he held until his retirement in April 2012.

Harry's craft and leadership are visible on some of Texas's most iconic buildings: Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium, the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M, the James Baker Institute and Jesse Jones Graduate School at Rice University, the Wortham Center, the Hobby Center, the Bass Performance Hall, and the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum. The masonry on those walls is part of his signature.

In retirement, "retirement" was a loose term. Harry continued consulting and volunteering because his passion for the work never dimmed. Rick Dunn, former TMC President, once described him as the youngest person he knew with sixty years promoting masonry. That energy, paired with his patience as a mentor and his integrity as a man, is how Harry will be remembered.
Harry married Lois Devillier on March 20, 1964, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Together they raised two sons and a daughter in the Cypress, Texas area. He is survived by Lois, his sons James (Karen) and Steve, his daughter Kellye (Paul) Englishbee, six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and his sisters Patricia McGraw and Peggy Crawford (Ronnie). He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister Inez Cowan.

The MCAA extends its deepest condolences to Lois and the entire McGraw family. Harry was a craftsman, a teacher, a leader, and a friend to this industry. He will be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorial donations to the American Heart Association. A Celebration of Life service will be announced.

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