Jack Lynn Conlee
December 21, 1942 - May 9, 2024

Jack Conlee, age 81, loved nothing more than a good challenge or a good party.  That’s why it was so surprising when on May 9, 2024 he left peacefully in the middle of the night, sober and without a fight.  

Jack was born in Dallas December 21, 1942 to Jacqueline and Robert Conlee.  He began reading when he was three years old so he could enjoy the funny papers without any adult supervision.  At age four he insisted on going to the corner grocery store by himself, refusing to take a list as he had memorized all the items needed.

In 1947 he was joined by baby brother, Michael, on Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.  At five, Jack spent his time snorkeling long distances from shore, creating a lot of anxiety for Jackie and Bob.  Early one morning he left his bike and little fishing rod at the end of a long dock to go play with a friend.  When he showed up at sunset to retrieve his things, he found the Coast Guard dragging for his body while his parents sobbed on the dock.

Jack attended Highland Park High School in Dallas where he was a mediocre student. (He said he was holding back for the hard stuff to come.) When he was a Junior an older student with an agenda beat the sh** out of him (Jack’s words).  Jack vowed revenge, and three times a week he took a city bus to a downtown gym to learn to box.  There he trained alongside Curtis Cokes, who became welterweight  champion of the world in 1966 and a lifelong friend to Jack.  

Upon seeing Jack’s first attempts in the ring, Curtis and the other boxers took a liking to him, but observed “Jackie Boy can’t even lick his lips”.    The next year Jack won the Dallas Golden Gloves championship as a featherweight and won a parking lot revenge fight against his former antagonist.  

Jack’s first exploits as a party planner began in high school.  He and a friend rented four charter buses which loaded on school property at 4 am, giving them an air of school sponsorship.  They had recruited the oldest, deafest, blindest available grandparents to act as chaperones.   Off they went to the Highland Park state football championship in Austin armed with illicit alcohol, blankets, and pillows.  They made a great deal of money on that enterprise, so later in the year they trespassed on a private lake front beach, set up a bar, hired a band, and made another load of money selling admission tickets and illegal alcohol.  

Jack began his college career at North Texas State University where he placed out of numerous courses and “gunned” his way through the required prerequisites for medical school.  In 1962, just a year after he graduated from high school he took the MCAT.  In December of his second year in college, he was accepted to Southwestern Medical School and the University of Texas Medical Branch.  He chose UTMB because of its reputation as being more fun than Southwestern.

At age 20 Jack found medical school challenging but still was able to apply himself to the art of partying.   He lived and breathed the Phi Chi fraternity and served as social chairman for several years.  The annual Spring Toga Party was a special highlight with frozen daiquiris spun up in blenders and made with 190 proof ethyl alcohol “obtained” from the school chemistry department.   Festivities lasted until dawn with a band, fried chicken, skinny dipping, and “gatoring” by the pool.  

During his senior year of medical school Jack agreed to assist the nursing club in throwing a party for Freshman and Sophomore nursing students visiting from Austin.  He asked to be set up for a date with the cutest visitor and that’s how he met Darien.  The party was at the Roadside Inn, a former African American church.  Jack was too busy with the party to go pick Darien up, so when they first met he was behind the bar screwing around with the kegs (Jack’s words). It was love at first sight.

After a rollicking good four years, Jack headed off to a straight surgery internship and three years of general surgery residency.   In the meantime, he married 19 year old Darien and they lived in Memphis, New Orleans and Galveston.  

In 1971 Jack was invited to join the Phoenix Plastic Surgery Associates as a resident in plastic surgery.  Life was good in Phoenix as he did his residency and Darien attended graduate nursing school.   As the Viet Nam war was winding down, the Air Force released Jack from his obligations and in 1973 the couple chose Corpus Christi, TX as their new home.

At the age of 30 Jack was one of the youngest plastic surgeons to ever be board certified.  He loved all types of plastic surgery from burns, to hands, cleft lips and cosmetic surgery.  He used to say he did “surgery of the hand and anywhere it can reach.”  His patients loved him and he was a skillful clinician and surgeon.  In 1983 he was among the first surgeons in the southwest to use closed suction lipectomy, now a common procedure. 

 Soon after starting practice Jack also began forays into commercial real estate.  He bought numerous apartment complexes and in 1980 completed the first apartment to condo conversion done in Corpus Christi.   He also owned a professional building and was co-founder of a surgical center.  

Corpus Christi was a wonderful place to live with excellent medical facilities, a beautiful bay, an active yacht club, and fabulous friends.  Early on Jack bought a sailboat and named it “Flat Busted” for his favorite surgical procedure.   He and Darien and their crew raced the boat every month, and participated in the Texas Ocean Racing Circuit, with great success. When the yacht club hosted the world Quarter Ton sailing championship, Jack and Darien served as the social directors for the prestigious two-week event.  

After a bareboat sailing trip to Honduras in 1979  Jack declared, “let’s go back there and buy an island.”   And that is how their life at Half Moon Cay began.   Years of planning and construction followed but in 1985 Jack and Darien, and their best friends Diane and Terry Smith, moved to “the Island”.    Jack loved everything about it, especially his Australian Cattle Dogs, deep sea fishing, Zydeco, and sitting at the beach BBQ.   Many a party was held at Half Moon Cay including Jack’s 50th birthday party with a Zydeco band from Louisiana and 300 guests.  

Then, after fifteen years on the island, Jack made another pronouncement.  “Let’s build a house in the French Quarter in New Orleans to have another place to go.”   One thing led to another and the new home at 500 Dauphine was born.   To christen the house Jack insisted that a millennium party was just the ticket.   No matter that the floor was plywood, the sheetrock was just primed, and the balcony railing was welded on the day of the party.  Friends new and old came on December 31, 1999 to celebrate with food, drinks, and live Zydeco.

Twenty years passed and life sometimes has a surprise for us.  After 53 years of marriage Jack and Darien separated and were divorced.   However, they talked almost every day and Darien continued to help Jack manage his affairs.  

Jack was not just a party kind of guy. He loved having a scientific or philosophical conversation. He was on the board and treasurer of the Corpus Christi Yacht Club. He was a community activist, working to decrease motorcycle noise and garbage in the French Quarter. He was a great believer in education and sent over 30 island school children to universities.

But more than anything, Jack was a great guy.  So many of his medical friends and others have called me to share remembrances and give their condolences.  In celebration of Jack there will be a party in New Orleans sometime within the next few months.   

Darien Conlee

jdconlee@hotmail.com