Home Page : News: In Memoriam Last Update: February 15, 2003 In Memoriam Ken Wilson, 68, died on February 8, 2003. The following obituary was submitted but his wife: My beloved husband, Kenneth Wade Wilson, passed away on 8 February 2003 after a long battle with pancreatitis at the age of 68. He was born on 9 July 1934 in Choate, Texas. Ken will always be missed by me, Brigitte, his wife of 34 years, his 2 sons, Kenneth and Christian Wilson, his grandson Roy Wilson, his mother Gladys Wilson, his sister Nancy Underbrink, numerous relatives and friends. Ken served 12 years in the Army, first as an Army Artillery Fire Direction Specialist, then he went to the Army Flight School in Ft. Rucker, Ala. He was a member of the first helicopter unit sent to Vietnam in 1961. Ken spent a tour in the Antarctica operating UH - 1Bs at 14,000 ft. He was a Senior Aviator and dual rated and flew while in the military: R/W: H-13, CH-34, CH-21, UH-1B; F/W: 0-1, Beaver, U8-D. He was awarded the Air Medal W/OLC. His last assignment with the Army was the Berlin Brigade. As a civilian Ken worked for 3 years for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia transporting personnel throughout the Mid-East, East Africa and Europe. He received the D.O.D. Sustained Superior Performance Award. From Jan 1971, on he worked for Continental Air Services in Vientiane, Laos. He flew PIC in BE 55 and SIC in DC-3s, C46s and DHC-6. From Sept 1972, he worked for Bird Air in Vientiane flying primarily Bell 206s, also BE D50Cs, C 206s and DC-3s. Bird Air provided crews for Xiengkhoung Air Transports DC-3. In June 1975, Bird Air shut down its operation in Laos. His wife and son Christian joined Ken in Vientiane in June 1971. After Laos, Ken worked for various companies flying helicopters: Air Logistics in Freeport, Tx, Bell 206B Carson Helicopters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, SK 58T Evergreen Helicopters, Galveston, Tex, Bell 206B Bell Helicopter International in Isfahan, Iran, as a Primary Flight Instructor - Bell 206B. From 1979 till about 1990, Ken worked as a self-employed contract pilot flying mostly DC-3s and Cessna 207s from South Texas to Mexico. In the following years, Ken led a quiet life with his wife and son Christian and grandson Roy. He was diagnosed with emphysema; it slowed him down, but he kept in touch with his large family and his many friends here and overseas. Kens memorial will be held on 22 February 2003 at 1300 hrs in the Choate Baptist Church. The Choate Baptist Church is at 6357 State Hwy 239. Choate is close to Kenedy which is between Beeville and San Antonio. Here is a map of Texas - Choate is marked by a red star in the middle. Here is a map showing the location of the Methodist Church in Choate, TX. Ruth White Herd, age 69, passed away on February 1, 2003, at the
Charlotte Mayfield Retirement Center in Leesburg, FL, following a year's battle
with cancer. Born in Washington, DC, she graduated from Caesar Rodney High
School in Wyoming, DE. She joined the CIA and had assignments in Japan,
Philippines and The Lewinsville Presbyterian Church is located at 1724 Chain Bridge Road,
McLean, This ad appeared in The Washington Post on 2/7/2003. Submitted by Ellen Bisson Darrell Eugene "Gene" Morris, former Marine and Air America pilot, passed away on January 31, 2003 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Born on July 27, 1935 in Estherville, Iowa, the son of the late Norman and Alice Morris. He lived an exciting life and made many wonderful friends while traveling the world. His love of flying took him to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand as a pilot for Air America. During the early seventies, "Gene" and his wife also ran the infamous "Cloud Nine" bar on Patpong II in Bangkok - a favorite "watering hole" known to flight crews around the world. For the past seven years, "Gene" resided in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) returning to the same house he had owned since 1969. Famous for his keen wit and contagious laugh, his wonderful sense of humor, stayed with him till the end. Surrounded at the time of his death by his many loved ones, including his wife, children, sister, and others whom he had personally helped to evacuate from Saigon some 28 years ago, during the chaotic collapse of South Vietnam. He is survived by his loving wife Teresa; sister Carol, 10 children, Scott, Van, Anne, Michael Norman, William, Mary Joe, Michael John, Terry, Patrick and Amber; son-in-law Brian; daughter-in-laws Andrea and Lieu; and 13 grandchildren. The family requests that those wishing to send their condolences, flowers,
etc, to send them "c/o The Morris Family" to the Borthwick/Norman
Mortuary (see below). For the funeral service on Saturday, we will be doing a "Celebration of Life" eulogy in which various people will be sharing their stories of Dad. Many of these will be read on behalf of people who could not make the trip but wanted to share their story by email. If you have any pictures of Gene during his Air America days, if you can kindly scan them and send me a copy ( [email protected]) , we would like to share these during the service as well. Thank you. Visitation: 10am to 11:30am Saturday, February 8th
Burial Services will follow at Makawao Cemetery at 12pm. We have received a remembrance submission regarding Gene Morris. To facilitate sharing this and possibly other submissions, we have added a new page - In Remembrance. If you would like to submit a remembrance for Gene (or anyone else) please sent the submission to Barbara Thielen. Poppy Stemwedel passed away in her sleep on January 27, 2003. She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Jerry. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, January, 31, at the Florida Memorial Funeral Home in Rockledge, Florida. Memorials are requested to the Alzheimer's Association. Florida Memorial Funeral Home Information Roger Cook died on January 20, 2003 at the San Antonio Medical Transplant Hospital. Arrangements for a Memorial Service at Fort Sam Houston are underway and details will be posted here as soon as possible. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the American Heart Association or another charity. Edna Doole has requested no calls at this time but cards will be appreciated. You can find her address in the latest directory under Roger Cook. Sleep well my friend, we won't forget you. Mike. 1520 Harry Wurzbach Road Map Larry Turner and his son Nick have reserved 10 rooms at the Holiday Inn Express, 210-226-4361, the cost is about $68. The Holiday Inn Express is located across the highway from Fort Sam Houston. A hospitality room will be available at the Holiday Inn Express for a gathering after the services. American Airlines and others might offer bereavement rates. Here is the required information in the event they need to contact the funeral home handling the arrangements: Ebensberger Funeral Home Ted Shackley died on December 9, 2002. A Memorial Service will be held at Joseph Gawler's Funeral Home at 5130 Wisconsin Ave NW, Bethesda, Maryland, at 2 - 4 pm and 7 - 9 pm on Friday, December 13. A Memorial Mass will be held at the Church of the Little Flower, 5607 Mass Ave. Bethesda, Maryland, on Saturday, December 14, at 10:00 am. Here is the updated information and directions to services to be held Saturday December 21, 2002. The following directions were provided by Mickey Kappas: Directions to The Mizell-Faville-Zern Funeral Home for Funeral and Burial Services for Ted Shackley on 21 December: Traveling on I95 in West Palm Beach take Exit 50 (US Highway 98/Southern Blvd). Go EAST on Southern Blvd to Parker Avenue - the first light. Turn right (South) on Parker Avenue. The Funeral Home is immediately on the right at 4101 Parker Avenue in the first block after the turn onto Parker. Here is a Mapquest Map. For those flying in, Southern Blvd is the southern boundary of West Palm Beach International Airport which is located just west of I-95 and is located less than 3 miles from the Funeral Home. Here is a Mapquest Map showing directions from the airport. Chapel Service will be Saturday, December 21 at 1:00 pm at The Mizell-Faville-Zern Funeral Home, 4101 Parker Avenue, West Palm Beach, Florida, (561) 833-4061. This will be immediately followed by a Burial Service at 1:45 pm at Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery, 6411 Parker Avenue, West Palm Beach, Florida, (561) 582-4131. Details of a post funeral gathering will be announced. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the American Cancer Society. Here is a link to the obituary that appeared in the Washington Post on December 13, 2002. Here is the obituary circulated by the Associated Press on December 13, 2002. The information below and at this link was submitted by Art Kim Ted's wife, Hazel, has one request of all of us: Please take a moment and send her any stories or anecdotes relating to Ted. She would like to read those items with their daughter, Suzanne, and bind them in a booklet for her grandchildren. Please send these items via fax or mail to the residence: 4907 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD 20816 FAX 301-320-0155 Also, please pass along this information to any former colleagues. I shall advise the agency tomorrow, as well as AFIO where he served on its board for a number of years. Jean Lemessieur died on November 29. She had Alzheimer's Disease. The memorial service was held on Saturday, 7 December. Bruce has asked that those who desire to make a contribution may do so to: The Alzheimer's Association The above information was submitted by Art Kim Dr. Charles Weldon died on Friday November 22 in Thailand. Charles Weldon was born in the tiny lumbering town of St. James, Louisiana in 1920. His mother died when he was nine years old, and he was raised by an older sister in San Angelo, Texas. After high school, he attended Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College and studied petroleum chemical engineering. He spent five years in the United States Marine Corps during World War II as an infantry officer, and fought in the Pacific theater against the Japanese. After World War II, he entered medical school in New Orleans, and graduated from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in 1951. He also has a post graduate degree in International Health from the Harvard University School of Public Health. His medial career started in pediatrics, but after one year he went into general practice in a rural area of Southern Louisiana. In addition to the eleven years he spent in Laos, Dr. Weldon has also lived and worked in Haiti, the Philippines, Cambodia, South Vietnam, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. He retired to Chiang Rai, a small provincial capital and farming center in Northern Thailand in 1987. In 1999 he wrote his autobiography, Tragedy In Paradise: A Country Doctor At War In Laos. Here is a message from his daughter, Rebecca: Here is a link to the obituary that appeared in the Bangkok Post on November 26, 2002. I would also like to invite anyone who knew him to send a brief anecdote about Dad. We will be putting them together in a book to hand out at the funeral. We will also send it to anyone who requests it and gives us an address. They can send it to my email [email protected] address or Fax c/o Rebecca Sithiwong, Golden Triangle, 66 53 713-963. In keeping with Buddhist tradition, we are holding daily and evening prayers for Dad at home until the cremation at midday on Friday, November 29. Thank you for your thoughts, Becky Jerry Hill, former traffic manger for Air America at VTE and UDN, gave up his fight against cancer on Nov 11 at 9:40 Pacific Time. Jerry passed away in Portland,OR. Funeral arrangements are pending. Dave Hickler, 81, of Escondido died Oct 29. He was born in Colfax, WA, and served in the US Army. He was a manager of operations for Air America for 28 years and also served as temporary base manager at UTH and VTE. He was a member of the Escondido Country Club. Survivors include his brother, Thomas Hickler. Private services were planned. Many will remember Dave and his slogan "Don't Forget Dave Hickler" which he had on everything in his office. Faith "Bucky" Richards passed away on September 20, 2002. She was to be cremated September 21, 2002, per her request. A Memorial Service will be held at 4:00pm Sunday, September 29th, at St. Michael and All Angels Church in Albuquerque. Also per her request, most of her ashes will be in the columbarium at St. Michael's and the remaining ashes scattered from an aircraft. In celebration of her life, I will have a dinner at home for all those that wish to share. Her obituary will be in the Albuquerque paper on both this Sunday and Monday. It will appear in the Newark Star Ledger on September 29th. In lieu of flowers, she wanted any contributions made to the WASP endowment fund. Checks should be made payable to the WASP Endowment and mailed to Texas Womens University Foundation, PO Box 425618, Denton TX 76204-5618. Please note that the contribution is in memory of Faith B. Richards, 43W4. The University is the official Historian for the WASPs. Faith supported their efforts 100%. Thank you, all of you, for your love, prayers, calls and emails. It is difficult to express how meaningful you are to me, and most importantly, to her. Submitted to the Log by her daughter Nancy. Alfred
Savard, died Thursday September 12, 2002, he was my very good friend, whom I
first met in 1965 at Air Asia, Tainan, Taiwan. Al and his wife Lina
remained very close to myself, my wife, Dolly, and family throughout all the
years since our Air Asia days. Al died at a Hartford, CT hospital after being in
a coma for 3 days following a stroke. He and Lina were driving from the Hartford
airport to their home in Southbury, CT, after returning from the Civil Air
Transport reunion in San Antonio, TX. Al was driving the car and just
slumped over; Lina brought the car to a stop. Al had leg phlebitis and had
suffered a pulmonary embolism in the past. Those of us with circulation problems
do have an increased risk of blood clots and therefore strokes due from
restricted seating during air travel. Usually any adverse circulation problems
show up in a relative short time, a few hours, after completing an airline
flight. The specific cause of Al's stroke is not known and as with many strokes
may never be known.
Besides Lina, Al is survived by a married son, Parry, who they had just
visited in Texas. Al and Lina's only other child, a younger son, Dean,
died suddenly about 10 years ago. As any parent knows this was a crushing blow
to Al and Lina.
Al was 75 years old and although a second generation American he was
proud of his French/Portuguese background. He was still active in aviation doing
occasional charter operator safety audits. After Air Asia, Al spent 30 years
with Sikorsky as their top field technical representative and few others knew
helicopters as well as Al. He was known for his aggressive and frank attitude
and what he said you could take to the bank. His devotion and love of his wife
and family was without bounds.
I assume the funeral mass and Catholic burial will be held early next
week at Southbury, Monday or Tuesday, 16-17.
Contacts with Lina or intentions of sympathy can be made at: Mrs. Lina
Savard, 278 Southford Rd., Southbury, CT 06488-0313.
Submitted by Bart Crotty. Peggy
Keele,
died the 5th of August 2002. She had a massive stroke, in the
morning, and was rushed to the hospital where she later died.
The memorial service for Peggy
will be this Saturday, August 10th from 3:00 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Art Museum of
Southeast Texas, 500 Main Street, Beaumont, TX, 409-832-3432. In
lieu of flowers, Duane has asked that memorial donations be made in Peggy's name
to the Triangle Aids Network, 2544 Broadway Street, Beaumont, TX, 409-832-8338. This is an organization that Peggy helped form.
Peggy also supported the Humane Society and memorial donations can be
sent to the Humane Society of the United States, Kindred Spirits-Dept. IT, c/o
Robin Bacon, 2100 L Street NW, Washington, DC 20037 or they also can be made
online @ www.hsus.org or you can send them to your local humane society.
If you would like to send cards or letters, Duane's address is P.O. Box 479
Vidor, TX 77640. Thank you so much
for all your calls and emails. Kathy
& Terry William Al White, died the 5th of August, 2002. He had been hospitalized for the last two weeks fighting a battle with cancer. His wife June and two children, Sean and Kurt, survive him. Submitted by Val Barrett. Please click here on Barbara Thielen to send web updates. |
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