We have just learned that retired Western/Delta pilot Captain Bill Joslyn passed last summer. Captain Wilbert Clinton “Bill” Joslyn joined Western Airlines 01-20-1964 and was Dallas based at the time that he retired with Delta Air Lines. Bill is survived by his wife Kay, and by his sons and their families.
Wilbert Clinton “Bill” Joslyn, 88 of Nixa, formerly of Lebanon, a retired commercial airline pilot, passed away Thursday morning, August 17, 2023, in The Castlewood Senior Living Center, Nixa.
Bill is survived by his wife, Kay Joslyn; four sons, Bill (Kristin) Joslyn of Bear Lake, Michigan, Bob (Krystal) Joslyn of Nixa, Ray (Stacy) Joslyn of Olathe, Kansas and Allen (Vicky) Joslyn of Camdenton; six grandchildren, Clinton (Kami) Joslyn, Marina Joslyn, Johnna Joslyn, Riley (Lauren) Joslyn, Reid and Ayden Joslyn; one great grandchild, River Joslyn; two sisters, Sallie Dickinson and Edwina (Ken) Braboy all of Lebanon; sister-in-law, Beverly Joslyn of Lebanon; brother-in-law, Don Notham of Cudahy, Wisconsin; sister and brother-in-law, Jan (Bob) Neuser of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin; several nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews; cousins and many friends.
Obituary information with a family photo album is available online at
Memorial contributions may be made in memory of Bill Joslyn and sent to Memorial Chapels and Crematory of Waynesville/St. Robert. Please make checks payable to Kay Joslyn, as she will be donating to several organizations that are important to the family.
Notice of passing…..retired Western/Delta Air Lines pilot and author Lt. Colonel Mal Ferrell, USAF (Ret.), age 88, of Peachtree City, Georgia. Captain Ferrell joined Western Airlines 04-22-1968 and retired with Delta Air Lines in 1995 based 030/ATL. He is survived by his wife Gloria, and by his children and their families.
Please see links below to read more of Mal’s life story.
For those who may wish to send a personal note, the Ferrell’s address is listed in whitepages as
103 ST. ANDREWS SQUARE, PEACHTREE CITY GA 30269-1441
Lt. Colonel Mal Ferrell, USAF (Ret.), 88, passed peacefully into the presence of his Savior on Christmas evening, 2023, in Peachtree City, Georgia. He was 88. His devoted wife, Gloria, kept vigil at his bedside for weeks before his passing.
During his long and productive life, Mal was many things — a decorated Air Force fighter pilot who flew more than 100 missions over North Vietnam in his F-105D Thunderchief, the author of 21 books on narrow-gauge trains, a pilot for Western and Delta airlines, and a photographer whose work graced the pages of LIFE magazine.
But to those who knew him — his family and friends — he was among the best of men: a loving husband to Gloria; a devoted father to Susan, Mallory 3rd, Kimberly and Eric; a doting grandfather to his grandchildren, and a wonderful brother to Joan. He said his greatest achievements in his life were his children.
Mallory Hope Ferrell, Jr. was born to Laura Evelyn Bunn Ferrell and Mallory Hope Ferrell, Sr. in Portsmouth, Virginia, on November 23, 1935. His mother cared for the family as a loving homemaker, and his father worked as an underwater welder at the Norfolk Shipyard during World War II.
The war shaped young Mallory’s childhood. He remembered watching planes attack German U-Boats off the coast of Virginia. He and his playmates salvaged material from a military equipment dump, flying imaginary missions in their fighter aircraft created from the canopy of an F4U Corsair pulled from the junk pile.
Aviators were his heroes: Claire Chennault and his “Flying Tiger” P-40 Warhawk pilots who fought as volunteers defending China against Japanese invaders prior to America entering the war; Jimmy Doolittle and his B-24 Liberator pilots who launched their land-based bombers from an aircraft carrier to execute the first U.S. bombing of Tokyo; Chuck Yeager, who broke the sound barrier in his Bell XS-1.
In the ’50s, Mal would sweep up at the local airport in exchange for airplane rides. He earned his pilot’s license at 15, before he earned his driver’s license. Years later he would teach his 15-year-old son, Eric, to fly in a Cessna 152 rented from the local airport.
Mal said that all pilots carried two bags which prevent crashing — a bag of luck and a bag of experience. He said that the luck bag grows smaller over time while the experience bag grows larger. In filling his bag of experience, Mal would draw heavily from his bag of luck.
As a young flier, Mal took his baby daughter, Susan, up for a ride in a light aircraft. He noticed that she had closed her eyes and gone quiet. His new daddy instincts went into overdrive. Fearing that she suffered hypoxia or otherwise lost consciousness, he declared an emergency and cut a couple of other planes out of the traffic pattern to set down and attend to his little girl. As soon as the plane’s wheels touched the runway, baby Susan woke up from her peaceful nap, to Dad’s relief.
To support his new wife and their baby daughter — and to help pay for college — Mal put to work his experience from high school writing and shooting photos for his local newspaper, The Virginian-Pilot. He found freelance work for the Blackstar photo agency and Life Magazine.
Assignments took him to Cuba where he covered dictator Fulgencio Batista’s execution of revolutionaries. Hiding rolls of film kept authorities from confiscating them, but Mal still did a short stint in a Cuban jail. A journalist colleague working for the Associated Press convinced his captors it was not in their best interest to continue detaining the young photojournalist.
Mal’s writing career began years earlier in junior high school. Fulfilling a class assignment, he wrote a short story of which he was particularly proud. The teacher gave the story a “C.” Not lacking in confidence, the student writer requested that his teacher please submit the story to a state-wide writing contest. The teacher declined.
The junior high kid retyped his story — so there was no “C” visible on it — and submitted the story to the contest independently. He won first place. The teacher who had rated the story as merely average also won a prize in that contest, although it would have to be delivered years later. She won a complimentary, autographed copy of Mal’s first book.
Young Mal joined the Air Force through ROTC at the University of Miami and completed flight training in 1959. He flew missions during the Cuban Missile Crisis and in Vietnam. He and another pilot briefly held an altitude record. They established the record in an F-106 Delta Dart while testing to see how high Soviet radars in Cuba could track aircraft.
During those suspenseful days in October of 1962 when the United States and the Soviet Union waited to see who would blink first in a stalemate over Soviet missiles in Cuba, the young fighter pilot was part of a flight sent to sink a Soviet ship.
En route to their objective, headquarters radioed the flight leader to discontinue the mission and return to base. As headquarters failed to give the proper authentication code to confirm the recall order, the flight leader radioed that he and his pilots were continuing the mission as originally tasked. A general seized the mic from the airman at the radio and, citing his authority, ordered the flight to return.
“I don’t care who you are, general,” the flight leader responded. “Unless you come up with the proper authentication code, we’re going to sink that Russian ship as ordered.” Fortunately, the airman working the code book quickly got on the correct page — literally — and referenced the correct recall code sequence.
Within a year of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Mal would begin the first of three combat tours in Vietnam. There he would fly a sampling of aircraft including the: C-123 Provider, A-1 Skyraider (Spad), F-5 Tiger, F-100 Super Sabre, and F-105D Thunderchief.
While fiercely proud of his military career as a fighter pilot, Mal told his family that his most meaningful mission was flying a C-123 cargo aircraft to rescue Marines in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam.
In describing his time in combat, Mal borrowed a quote from the World War II saga “Band of Brothers”: “I was not a hero. But I served in a company of heroes.” He offered, for example, the time that his F-105D aircraft was badly shot up and leaking fuel. It was the hero crew of a KC-135 Stratotanker that bravely nursed his aircraft home across the contested skies of North Vietnam. They faced danger from enemy MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft fire, and flames from Mal’s F-105D. Jet fuel and fire do not a good combination make.
Mal’s decorations from service in Vietnam include: The Distinguished Flying Cross, five Air Medals, the Bronze and Silver Stars. He flew more than 100 missions over North Vietnam in his F-105D, going “downtown” taking the fight to the heart of the enemy over Hanoi.
Following Vietnam, Mal continued flying with Virginia and Colorado Air National Guard units. To earn a living, he went to work — ever so briefly — for his father and uncle in the family business, Ferrell Linoleum and Tile.
He described shuffling along on his hands and knees measuring the bathroom of a vacant house for new flooring. Catching sight through the window of an airliner sailing through the blue sky, he instantly decided on his next career move. Within a few months he landed work for Western Airlines as a flight engineer on the Boeing 707.
He would retire three decades later with Delta Airlines as an international captain on the Boeing 767. Along the way he flew his beloved Boeing 737, a plane he said was so rugged and durable that it could climb trees, and the Boeing 727, the first equipment on which he sat in the left seat, flying as captain.
His wife, Gloria, supported his career, moving four times around the country for him to move up in equipment. Outdoor hockey tournaments in the subzero temperatures of Minnesota were not an easy adjustment for a Georgia girl, but the Minnesota move permitted Mal to fly as a captain with the airline for the first time.
Friends and family recall throughout Mal’s life that he loved old railroad lines. Mal wrote hundreds of magazines articles and 21 books on the topic of old steam-engine rail lines. He also scored wins in modeling contests displaying engines and rail cars which he built from scratch, frequently making his own parts.
At every phase of life from his teen years on, and wherever he lived, he would research the steam-engine lines. Whether on a layover with the airlines or vacationing with family, he would take the opportunity to find railroad artifacts, collect old photos, or shoot his own. He specialized in black-and-white photography, developing his own pictures in his home darkroom.
Mal’s two oldest children recall their father listening to an LP recording of trains. Their dad could identify the type of engine on a rail line based on its whistle and the sound of its boiler chugging along.
Many of his children’s fond memories with their Daddy come from trips chasing old locomotives. His two youngest children, Kim and Eric, recall the family camping next to a stream in the Rocky Mountains. Kim also remembers she and her brother, Mal 3rd, bumping their heads on the ceiling of their Ford Bronco as the father bounced the vehicle over mountain trials. Mal 3rd remembers flood waters carrying the family’s Volkswagen Beetle downstream on one outing. No one was hurt and the little Bug made it the far riverbank, and where it resumed trudging along, going places only a 4×4 should venture.
Mal 3rd also recalls the same little VW breaking down after dark in The Great Dismal Swamp on the border of Virginia and North Carolina. Dad jumped out to make repairs while his son nervously noticed multiple pairs of red eyes peering at them through the darkness — alligators. Mr. Fix it promptly had the little VW up and running and no one was eaten.
Mal is survived by his beloved wife of 48 years, Gloria Gaskins Ferrell of Peachtree City. He has three children from his marriage to Alice M. Moore: Susan (Gary) Waters of Friday Harbor on the San Juan Islands, Washington; Mallory (Michelle) Ferrell of Pace, Florida; Kimberly (Tim) Imberi of El Mirage, Arizona. His youngest son is Eric (Susan) Ferrell of Sharpsburg, Georgia.
He has five grandchildren: Lenna (Travis) Cherry of Yakima, Washington, Heather Ferrell of Longmont, Colorado, Anna Ferrell of Denver, Colorado, Nicholas Ferrell of Surprise, Arizona, and Katherine “Katie” Ferrell of Sharpsburg, Georgia; and two great-grandsons via Nicholas: Oliver Ferrell, and Jordan Ginnetti………………………………….
A former combat fighter pilot and international airline captain, the Virginia native has authored hundreds of articles and written 21 books. He majored in Architectural Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) and graduated from the University of Miami.
Mal was a photographer for the Black Star Agency and Life magazine before turning to a professional flying career. He still does photographic work the “old-fashioned way” in his own darkroom. His picture collection on railroads and the Old West numbers well over 120,000 prints. His other interests include award-winning finescale model building and collecting historic annual passes………………
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — Anyone who doubts that aviation and railroading are often a shared affinity should consider the life of Mallory Hope Ferrell, a skilled photographer and writer, decorated military and commercial pilot, and the author of at least 21 railroad books, mostly concerned with narrow-gauge and shortline steam railroads.
Lt. Colonel Mallory Hope Ferrell (USAF-retired), a former pilot for Western and Delta Airlines, died Dec. 25, 2023, at his home in Peachtree City, after a long illness. He was 88.
Along with his many books, Ferrell had dozens of bylines in Trains, Classic Trains, and other railroad periodicals. One of the most notable stories was his portrait of Colorado narrow-gauge preservationist Robert W. Richardson, “Uncle Bob and the 346,” the cover story for the February 1988 issue of Trains. In it, Ferrell described how legions of narrow-gauge fans grew up in Richardson’s shadow; the same could be said of the author himself.
Ferrell’s books touched on nearly every aspect of narrow-gauge and steam short-line history. They included such classics as “Silver San Juan: The Rio Grande Southern,” for Pruett Publishing in 1973; “West Side: Narrow Gauge in the Sierra,” for Pacific Fast Mail in 1992; and “The South Park Line,” for Hundman Publishing in 2003.
Ferrell also had a special place in his heart for a Class I railroad, the Virginian, located near his childhood Tidewater home in Portsmouth, Va. He wrote: “I would go to sleep each night listening to the sounds of a Virginian 2-8-2 switching the yards. The gentle sounds and pungent aroma of smoke would drift through the night air and into my bedroom window like a soothing gauze.”……………………………………………….
Jackie Dorrence Walker, 89, of Shirley, Arkansas passed away Friday, February 9, 2024, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was born June 13, 1934, in Texhoma, Oklahoma to James and Mattie (Riddles) Walker.
Jackie served his country in the Air Force Reserves and the National Guard when he was a younger man. He went on to become an airline pilot working for Delta Airlines from 1966-1982. After retirement his interest in antiques and antique collection began. He had an antique shop in Fairfield Bay where he also repaired clocks. Grandfather clocks, pendulum, cuckoo clocks, desk clocks, if it kept time, he could repair it. Jackie was always friendly and easy to talk to. He will be missed by his family, friends, and all who knew him.
He is preceded in death by his beloved wife of 63 years, Velma Walker, son, Jackie Walker, JR., two grandchildren: Casey Jo Walker, Chance Walker, parents, and all of his siblings.
Those left to cherish his memory are his sons: Robert Walker, Gary Walker, Kenneth Michael Walker, Terry Walker, numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, other relatives, and friends.
Clinton Funeral Service is honored to be entrusted with arrangements for the Walker Family.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store
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Full Name Velma Lorene Walker
Date of Death Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017
Velma Lorene Walker, 79, of Shirley, passed away Tuesday, October 3, 2017. Born November 2, 1938 in Dumas, Texas to Alvin and Alta Mae McKinsey Hembree. She was of the Baptist faith and attended the First Baptist Church of Bates, Arkansas; she was a florist and owned the florist shop in Fairfield Bay for many years.
Belated notice of passing…..born/raised in Minnesota, Kenneth “Kenny” “Ken” Dwain Ritmire joined Western Airlines 09-03-1968 and retired with Delta Air Lines in 1996 based 030/LAX. Ken was living in the Long Beach CA area at the time of his passing. I believe that he is survived by his wife Diana Muehlberger Ritmire who still resides in California.
Should more information be received, we will be sure to pass it along.
Marie L. Stefferud, wife of WAL/DAL Capt. C. Dan Stefferud
November 5, 1943 ~ December 29, 2023
Survived by her husband WA/DL Captain C. Dan Stefferud, condolences may be sent to the family at:
229 Via Monte Doro, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Marie L Stefferud passed away on December 29, 2023, at home under hospice care. Marie suffered from a rare neurological ailment since approximately 2015 and died with her family at her side peacefully. Marie was born on November 5, 1943 in Racine, WI and spent most of her youth living in Tomah, WI. She attended Whitewater State College after high school and was married to Christian “Dan” Stefferud on June 16,1963 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Tomah, WI. In marriage they lived in Texas & Washington while Dan was in the Air Force. In 1969 Dan was hired by Western Airlines and they lived for a short time in Colorado, after which they settled in Redondo Beach, California, until she joined our Lord and Savior upon death.
Marie was an LPN and became a real estate broker in 1974 and helped Dan run their real estate sales and property management company for 40 years. She was an active member at Hope Lutheran Church, 3734 Centinela, Los Angeles, CA where her funeral will be on Saturday January 27, 2024, at 11:00 AM.
Notice of passing….retired Western/Delta pilot Captain Roger “Rog” Juul Tonnesen, age 90. Captain Tonnesen joined Western Airlines 06-18-1962 and retired with Delta Air Lines in 1993 based SLC. Captain Tonnesen’s most recent address is listed in whitepages as 161 Hamilton Ct., Los Altos, CA 94022.
Los Altos, CA-Roger Tonnesen, Father, Husband, pilot, and athlete, died peacefully on December 26. He is survived by his daughter Kelli, son Daniel, son-in-law Phil and four loving grandchildren.
Roger was born in Salt Lake City to Chet and Edith Tonnesen and welcomed home by his brother Lorin. He attended Granite High School where he was the quarterback of the football team and also lettered in basketball and baseball. At the University of Utah, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and captained the 1956 basketball team to a berth in the NCAA tournament and made the Sweet 16. The Utes reached #2 in the rankings that year. Roger married Kappa Kappa Gamma sweetheart Diane Dozzi and served in the Air Force as a fighter pilot. After a stint working for his brother at Tonnesen Sprinkler Company he flew commercially for Western and Delta Airlines for 32 years.
The Tonnesen family moved to Los Altos, California in 1968 where Roger and Diane made a nurturing home for the next 55 years, but Roger’s heart never left Utah. He chose to have his remains returned to his native soil.
He became a scratch golfer participating in the US Senior Amateur but didn’t like it as his competitors “weren’t having any fun.”
Roger liked to have fun. He was an optimist, respectful and kind, tipped well and appreciated intellectual challenges. Roger had a quiet, kind and reflective side which he showed relaxing at home and loved spending time with his children and grandchildren. The details of his sports achievements, military service, and successful career as a commercial airline pilot showcase a life well-lived, filled with travel and diverse experiences. His dedication to family, as well as his love for golf and the camaraderie he enjoyed with friends, reflects a rich and fulfilling life.
Rog was a good guy and left a positive and lasting impact on those around him.
Capt. Tonnesen was widowed in 2019 with the passing of his wife Diane (Mildred Diane Dozzi) he was survived by his daughter Kelli, son Daniel, son-in-law Phil.
Marriage Date : 8 Jun 1956 Salt Lake, UT
Mildred Diane Dozzi
February 16, 1934 – July 9, 2019
Diane Dozzi Tonnesen, Mother, Wife, teacher, life long learner, world traveler and lover of nature died peacefully in her home on July 9 after a valiant battle with lung cancer. She is survived by her husband Roger, daughter Kelli, son Daniel, son in law Phil Pastuhov and four loving grandchildren, Julia Denevi, Catherine Pastuhov, Nicholas Pastuhov and Anika Tonnesen.
Diane leaves a considerable wake brimming with laughter and a deep concern for others. All who remember Diane will conjure a smile when reflecting on their times with her. As a 51- year resident of Los Altos, California she made many friends, and participated actively in the community.
Diane was born in Cherry Hills, Pennsylvania to her father Daniel Dozzi MD and Mildred Schwarz Dozzi. She graduated from the University of Utah with a major in Education and was proud of her life long affiliation with Kappa Kappa Gamma and the Junior League. She married Roger Tonnesen in 1956 and they moved around the country while Roger was serving in the Air Force. As her children left home she kindled her remarkable enterprising spirit and experience as a teacher to initiate a series of classes pertaining to travel and stretching your clothing dollar. While others depended on Diane for sartorial guidance, she took her fashion cues from no one. Her ability to accessorize is legendary.
On December 12, 2023, Dennis (Denny) Putnam finished his earthly journey and passed to his heavenly home. He was born March 3, 1934, in Gunnison, Colo. Soon after, Denny and his folks moved to Phoenix, where a sister and brother were born. In ’44 they moved to Prescott, Arizona, where they were all baptized Catholic, and four years later the family moved to Grand Junction, Colo. Times were hard. In discerning a possible vocation, Denny attended seminary his senior year – as he put it, “it was an interesting year,” but priesthood was not for him.
After starting college, Denny enlisted in the Air Force in ’53, getting his wings in June of ’54, assigned to a special weapons transport squadron with a world-wide mission. At the Officers’ Club, New Years 1957, Denny met Lonnie. His three-day courtship soared into a 66-yr marriage, with three children over the next five years. Denny said his true loves were Lonnie, those three kids, and flying (Lonnie says his true love was flying, flying, flying!).
After leaving active duty, Denny attended Univ of Arizona while looking for a flying job. With none available, he was hired by the FAA as an air traffic controller in the Los Angeles Center. Western Airlines hit the jackpot & hired Denny, who gave them 100% over his 23-year career, flying the western United States, rising to the position of captain, even becoming involved in pilot contract negotiations. The family lived in the country in Parker, Colorado, in the large home Denny designed and built himself.
Once the children were grown and gone, Lonnie & Denny returned to Denny’s childhood town, Prescott, Ariz. They enjoyed years of memorable travel. Especially close to his heart were their trips to Molokai, Hawaii, where Lonnie & Denny were especially blessed by a prayer group in Mauna Loa, and Denny made quite the trek down to Kalaupapa – the leper colony. Many trips were in their own plane, from Alaska to Mexico, and he volunteered flights with Lifeline Pilots and Angel Flight. Sadly, due to his own medical issues, Denny hung up his Western Airlines scarf and goggles in 1984, with a lifetime of almost 30,000 flight hours.
With that door closed, God opened a window, and Denny followed God’s call to ordination as a permanent deacon in 1993, and acquired a masters in Theology along the way. A couple years later, Denny and Lonnie settled in Montrose, Colo, where Denny deaconed at St. Mary Catholic Church and Our Lady of Fatima Mission … again, giving his 100%, assigned as Parish Director, including the responsibilities of building a new church. For Denny’s “dedication and service to the Church,” he was honored with a papal award by Pope Benedict in 2007. (Even the Pope thought our dad was a special guy!) After several attempts at retirement, Denny and Lonnie moved last year to Chandler, Arizona, enjoying the sunshine and being close to loving family.
Denny is survived by his wife, Lonnie; their three children, Greg (Candace), Suzanne/Suzy (David), and Sally; four grandchildren, Becca (Luz), Nevada, Bob, and Westen; and Denny’s brother, Doug Putnam (Sandra). We would be remiss in not adding his beloved numerous granddogs. Preceding him in death are Denny’s mother and father (Mildred Garber Putnam and C.J. “Putt” Putnam) and sister (Debra Putnam Nichols).
A funeral Mass will be held at St. Mary Catholic Church in Montrose, on December 22, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. Crippin Funeral Home is assisting with the arrangements.
Denny was a quiet, generous philanthropist. As such, we would encourage you to make contributions to Angel Flight at www.angelflight.com or Hospice of the Valley at www.hov.org in his memory.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store
As noted in the Nov-Dec issue of the Air Line Pilot magazine’s In Memoriam column, the December 2022 passing of Delta Captain Edward P. Moore. Edward Paul Moore joined Western Airlines 6-5-1967 and retired with Delta Air Lines. He was based LAX and SLC.
I was not able to find an online obituary. If anyone has more information, we would love to hear from you.
Mary Lou (Stuber) Ebrite [1937 – 2023] Born: July 31, 1937 in Mishawaka, Indiana Died: November 23, 2023, Thanksgiving night, in Salinas, CA at age 86 years old She is survived by: Her Daughter Karen Garduno and husband John and sons Matthew and Michael And her daughter Julie Burbank and husband Stuart and daughter Taylor, and sons Logan and Nathaniel. Mary Lou grew up in Mishawaka, Indiana. She met her husband Don Ebrite at Purdue University in Indiana, where she graduated with honors in Home Economics. They married in 1959 and for 8 years lived in various states when Don was in the Air Force. During those years their 3 daughters Kathy, Karen, and Julie were born. In 1969, Don finished his service with the U.S. Air Force and moved his family to California to begin his longtime career as a commercial airline pilot with Western Airlines and later Delta Airlines.
The family settled in Westminster, and in 1976 they moved to Villa Park, in Orange County, California. Mom was very involved in 4-H, Church, Women’s Bible Studies, and Home Ec Club activities. She also enjoyed crafting, flowers, and trivia. Mom loved people, loved God, and loved her family.
Mary Lou, Don, and the whole family enjoyed traveling the world, and they did! They loved learning and experiencing different places and cultures; Karen and Julie have amazing memories of all of their great adventures together. Her oldest daughter, Kathy, died in 1988 at the age of 27 years, and her husband, Chris Pitkin, died five years later; this was a real difficult time for the family. Mary Lou and Don also had great joy and celebration in adding ‘sons’ to their family through marriages of their Karen to John in 1988, and Julie to Stuart in 1997. Don, her husband of just over 50 years. passed away in 2009, and in 2012, Mary Lou moved up to Salinas (close to Julie), where she spent the last years of her life. Mary Lou died peacefully the night of Thanksgiving after spending a joyous day surrounded by her whole family, including both her daughters and all five grandchildren. Although her death was unexpected, the special day shared was truly a blessing from God and a gift to the family. Mary Lou was a bright, shining person, optimistic and enthusiastic, and was always encouraging others to learn and grow. She loved being involved in many things, as both a leader and follower, and had a real desire to serve God. She had a deep love for others and had her own special way of showing it. Mary Lou loved her family and friends and they loved her. On Thursday, November 30th, a graveside service for Mary Lou was held at the Santa Ana Cemetery in Southern California; she was laid to rest next to Don, and nearby to Kathy. A ‘Celebration of Life’ service to honor our Mom, Mary Lou, will take place after this holiday season, and in 2024. A Gift. We are extremely grateful for the gift that Mom had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are thankful for the gift of her life– our Mom and Grandma. We are blessed beyond measure of the gift of Mom sharing Thanksgiving day with us– together with those she loved dearly. A Gift of Love.
Patricia Lee Kennedy Maxey was born in Cleveland, Ohio but grew up with her four brothers in South Charleston, West Virginia. She had to learn to enjoy playing boy games which gave her the great competitive spirit and “spunk” that remained with her always. After completing high school, she drove herself West to Colorado where the beauty of the mountains captured her and she started a new life. Hired by Western Airlines as a flight attendant in 1967 she embraced the adventurous spirit and travel opportunities that came with that career. She flew out of Denver, Colorado mostly on Western’s “Islander” route to Hawaii. She met and married her first husband in Denver, who later died in a traffic accident.
She became a very successful Realtor working in Denver and started flying to London when Western was awarded the route. She gave up her real estate business as she joined hands with a Western pilot and moved to Salt Lake City, Western’s new hub. She married Bill Maxey at Ixtapa, Mexico in 1983.
Boating became a large part of their lives and they decided to live on a lake in Idaho and later, a lake in Alabama where she completed her 30 year flying career internationally with Delta Airlines out of Atlanta. Patti said, “I’ve seen it all from the air now let’s see it from the road”, and the Motorhome lifestyle became the way to go. All the lower 48, Mexico, Alaska, Western Canada, and the Maritimes were all destinations but the emphasis was on the journey.
Patti was an outstanding cook who enjoyed large parties not overlooking anything. She had a real talent for oil painting, and a great eye for color, which reflected in the paintings that she produced. She was an avid fly fisherman, and was certified in the ocean in scuba diving. She was a beautiful, snow skier and a member of the ski patrol. She loved to waterski and all water sports of any type. She even tried hang gliding, but disliked the grasshoppers on landing.
She truly embraced the active lifestyle and enjoyed and loved the many people that she came in contact with throughout her life. Patti was always a compassionate and caring person. Not only in words, but in deeds. After seeing a picture of a Vietnamese baby with a horrendous hemangioma covering most of her face, she said that she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. She orchestrated the reconstructive surgery in Madrid, Spain, for the baby. She traveled once to Vietnam to deliver the baby’s medicine and to Spain three times to facilitate numerous operations on the child.
She also trained and became an EMT for her local volunteer fire department helping others in need. She was active for 10 years. She leaves us with great memories, loving life to the fullest. She was the “real deal” sharing her enthusiasm and love with everyone she met in her journey through life. After a short illness the Lord reached out, and carried her home. Well done my true and faithful servant. You are truly home now.
