Ranger Exes Memorial - RHS Class of 1949 RJC

Jack Waddington JACK BOB WADDINGTON, 80, passed away on Sept. 22, 2012 in Dallas, TX. Jack was born Jan. 19, 1932, in Mingus, TX, at home, the son of Lloyd & Eunice Waddington, attended by Dr. J.T. Spratt. His grandparents were Sarah Addie Potter & Bob Henry Stewart and Eli & Mary Smith Waddington of Bosque County where they farmed. Jack’s grandfather Eli came from England in 1869, at the age of 13 with his parents and brothers. Jack’s great-grandfather, John Waddington, who was a Texas pioneer in the Millsap and Seymour area was shot in the back and killed in 1880 by a cattleman’s gunmen while he and some of his children were attempting to settle land near Seymour, TX. Jack’s great-grandfather on his mother’s side was also a Texas pioneer, Dr. James Potter of Weatherford, a circuit rider who rode through Indian territory to visit his patients. Jack, while living at Mingus, attended grades 1-7 at Strawn Elementary School but moved at age 12, with his family to Ranger, TX, in the summer of 1944, where he attended the 8th grade and graduated from Hodges Oak Park Elementary. He was also a graduate of Ranger High School in the Class of 1949, Ranger Junior College in 1951 where he was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, and North Texas State (BA-majors in English and Education), Denton. Upon completion of his education at North Texas, he then joined the U.S. Navy and entered into active duty when he was assigned to the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1953. His first airplane ride was on a commercial American Airline flight to Boston, MA. He graduated from OCS in 1954, and was commissioned as an Ensign. He was assigned to the U.S. Naval Communication Station at the Ninth Naval District Headquarters, Great Lakes, Illinois, where he served as officer-in-charge of the major relay station and was also responsible for the area’s classified library. He applied for entry into the Navy’s flight training program and was transferred to Pensacola, FL, in the summer of 1955 as a Lieutenant (junior grade), where he commenced flight training. During the next 12 months he attended courses at Sherman Field, Whiting Field, Saufley Field and Baron Field. In 1956, he married Mertice Joanne Brooks of Costa Rica and Florida. They met while she was attending her last year at Florida State University and they were married in Bradenton, FL. They had three sons. Upon completion of basic flight training in the Pensacola, FL, he attended advanced, multi-engine, flight training at NAS Hutchinson, Kansas where he received his Navy wings and was designated as a Naval Aviator in 1956. He was then assigned to the Airborne Early Warning Squadron Fifteen (VW-15) at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, with deploy- ments to NAS Argentia, Newfoundland. Waddington was promoted to Lieutenant in 1957. His next tour was as a flight instructor at NAS Pensacola and Whiting Field, FL, in Training Squadron Six (VT-6) 1959-1962. There he was accepted as a USN (regular) officer. Next duty was at VP-31, NAS North Island, San Diego, CA, where he underwent seaplane training prior to being assigned to Patrol Squadron Fifty (VP-50) at the Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan. While in VP-50 he was designated a patrol plane commander in a P5M Marlin anti-submarine seaplane and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 1963. From Japan he was assigned to the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, where he attended the Command and Staff course, with graduation in 1966. He was assigned across Narragansett Bay to the aircraft carrier USS Essex (CVS-9) home-ported at NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island. He was the First Lieutenant in charge of the deck force on the carrier where he qualified as officer-of-the-deck underway. The carrier made a North Atlantic training cruise and a Mediterranean cruise while he was aboard. In 1967, he was re-assigned to Training Squadron One (VT-1) at Saufley Field as an instructor and later as the Administrative Officer and was promoted to Commander. He departed that duty in 1968 and reported to his next duty on the staff of the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) at the Naval Station, Norfolk, VA. On this NATO staff he served as the Director of Community Relations and was head of the SACLANT NATO Briefing Team. He was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal for meritorious service there. Following six years in this job he moved down the hall for his next assignment as Assistant U.S. Liaison Officer to SACLANT on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANT). As his final tour in the U.S. Navy, Commander Waddington was assigned to the staff of the Chief of Naval Air Training, NAS Corpus Christi, TX, where he served as Public Affairs Officer. After 26 years of service, he retired from the U.S. Navy in 1979. During his Naval service as an aviator he completed: total pilot hours: 4,034, total flight hours 5,265. 605 night hours. 458 actual instrument hours, 276 simulated instrument hours, 1,525 landings (sea and land). Following his Naval service he moved to Dallas in 1980, where he was employed by American Liberty Oil Company and the T.L. Wynne family as office manager and purchasing agent before he completely retired in 1988, but continued to live in Dallas. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Ranger, an avid bridge player, involved with his Class of 1949 activities and in the Ranger High School Exes. He did voluntary research for the Ranger Exes Memorial web site. He will be cremated and his ashes scattered near his birthplace in Mingus in an area where he played as a child and only 18 miles from his beloved Ranger. He was preceded in death by his parents, his former wife, Joanne Brooks Waddington Averre and by his brother, L.S. Waddington and sister, Joyce Waddington Short. He is survived by his three sons: James Brooks Waddington and daughter, Ashley Elizabeth of Parrish, FL; Jack Stewart Waddington and his wife Susan and their daughter Emily Clair of Yalaha, FL, and Airman Cristopher R. Waddington, at the US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO; and David Lloyd Waddington of Parrish, FL; and his great-granddaughter, MacKenzie Waddington and his longtime friend, Clinton Nickoles of Dallas, and his great love, his cat Zoni. His three grandchildren, Chris, Ashley and Emily and great- granddaughter, Mackenzie were always a great joy to him as were Beverly and Steven Nickoles of Starkville, MS and Nashville, TN. At the time of his death, he had other living relatives that he loved dearly, including his brother's children, Sandi and Don and their children: his sister's son Robert Short and his son and family; his first cousins, Patsy Ruth Hedrick & Dorisgean and Loyd Williams. He was also survived by other cousins, many of his classmates from the Class of 1949 who remained among his best friends throughout his life and many other Ranger classmates, Navy, Dallas, and other friends. More pics Lloyd & Eunice Waddington PARENTS: LLOYD & EUNICE WADDINGTON resided in Ranger from 1944 until their deaths. They were the parents of Jack Waddington (RHS-1949), and two older children; Lloyd Stanley, Jr. & Joyce Waddington. The senior Waddingtons were married in Weatherford in 1920. The couple lived in Mingus, TX prior to their marriage and until "the move to Ranger in 1944. Lloyd was born in Millsap on Dec. 25, 1889, and died in Ranger in 1976. He was an automobile mechanic & later a pipe-fitter. Eunice Bell Stewart was born in Weatherford in 1899, and died in Ranger in 1990. They resided in Ranger at 710 Cypress. The photos were taken on the day of their wedding & when they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Eunice Waddington was employed at the Crawford Oil City Pharmacy Rexall Drug Store in Ranger for many years. Lloyd Waddington, Jr. BROTHER: LLOYD STANLEY "L.S." WADDINGTON, JR., 80, a retired rancher, died on July 16, 2002, with burial at Mount Marion Cemetery. Mr. Waddington was born in Mingus to Eunice S. & Lloyd Stanley Waddington Sr. of Mingus & later Ranger. Mr. Waddington attended school in Mingus & Strawn and attended the University of Texas at Austin. He served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII, flying combat missions in the P-51 Mustang in the European theater of operations where he was a member of the 15th AAF P-51 Mustang fighter group in Italy. He flew his first combat mission over enemy territory as a member of a fighter escort with a high altitude heavy bomber unit attacking railroad bridges in northern Italy. He had attained the rank of captain when he was released from duty at the war's end. He and his family lived a number of years in Abilene where he was first employed by his cousin, Don Waddington, as manager of Waddington's Ladies Apparel and later he was manager of Ernest Grissom's department stores. While in Abilene, he served a term as president of the Abilene Downtown Association. He and Mrs. Waddington then moved to Odessa, where he managed the Model Shop Department Stores, later purchasing the stores and operating them until he closed them when he retired. Upon retirement, they built a ranch home at their land south of Strawn on the Strawn to Desdemona Highway where he continued to ranch and farm for some years. He was a life member of the Masonic Lodge in Gordon. His great love was his family, taking great pride in his children and grandchildren. Next to family, he loved the outdoors, hunting and fishing, as well as ranching and farming. He was an avid bass fisherman. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of 52 years, Barbara Gailey Waddington of near Strawn; and his sister, Joyce Waddington (Mrs. Robert Sterling) Short of Dallas. Survivors: Son, Don Lloyd Waddington of Strawn and formerly of Fort Worth and Weatherford; a daughter Sandi Garnett of Arlington; brother, retired Navy Cmdr. Jack Waddington (RHS-1949) of Dallas; grand- children, Jason Hart and Jeremy & Jared Garnett, all of Arlington, and Terra Dawn Waddington of Springfield, Mo.; two great-grand- children; and other loved relatives and friends.