Michael Terry Noss

Please join us to celebrate the life of Terry Noss on Saturday, October 10 from 4:00-6:00 pm at the CTAGA gun range, 15090 East 69th Street North in Benton, KS. We are celebrating Terry in the way he liked best- around a campfire with friends, food, and raising a glass with cheer. The evening will start with a tribute to a life well lived followed by a toast and light meal. We plan to be outside but will move indoors if mother nature doesn’t cooperate. Just bring a camp chair and let us know you are coming. You can RSVP to Renee at [email protected]

Terry was born July 14, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York to Phyllis and Danny Noss. He married Linda White on August 1, 1969 in Wichita, Kansas. He graduated Embry Riddle University in 1965 and retired from Learjet/Bombardier in 2003.

Terry was born near the close of World War II. A self-described “military brat,” he thrived growing up with frequent moves and living in exotic locales. His father, Danny, a US Navy pilot, was stationed on Guam in 1950. When Danny’s young family joined him Terry was part of the first civilian family living on Guam. He enjoyed exploring the island and befriended a local mutt, Pudgie. The two would become the subject of a personal interest story in nationally circulated Look magazine. Terry spent his teen years in Honolulu, Hawaii. Eager to embrace island life, he loved recalling the physical struggle he endured to fit in with the locals: blistered feet from eschewing any type of shoe, tender mouth from eating fresh pineapple and sunburned skin from surfing and skin diving. And, probably most traumatically, at fourteen he learned he was going to become a big brother.

The family returned to the states where Terry went on to graduate from New Iberia High School in Louisiana in 1960. After a failed year at Louisiana Tech, he spent a transformative summer scraping the faded paint of ad campaigns from bus stop coverings in Lakeland, Florida, where his father had retired. Lesson learned, he studied engineering at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Surely his shenanigans continued, but this time he graduated with a BS in 1965.

He began his life’s career in aviation at Cessna Aircraft Company, where he met the love of his life and wife of 51 years, Linda. They married on August 2, 1969. The following years were filled with the ups and downs of raising children, enjoying the adventures of life and moves from Wichita to Tucson to Dallas and a final move back to Wichita in 1986. He retired from Learjet Corporation in 2003.

Some of his favorite adventures included rendezvous and hunting trips with the Chisolm Trail Antique Gun Association where his closest friendships were made. Blue Buffalo was his handle, a reference to the blue van that was big enough to carry the family and camping gear inside and tepee poles on top. He also liked shooting with his camera and on a trip to Wyoming almost became a permanent fixture of the prairie. Engrossed in getting the perfect “shot,” when he looked up from the viewfinder, he realized he had wandered farther than intended and looking around, all the hills looked the same!

He enjoyed photography and antique guns throughout his life. In retirement he enjoyed crashing, I mean flying, model airplanes, woodworking and playing with his drone. A highlight of these years was the volunteer time he spent restoring Doc, a WWII B-29 bomber, to flight status. He was proud to be part of “Doc’s Friends.” He enjoyed the physical work and valued the friendships he made while helping to restore the flying superfortress. Sixty years after its last flight, Doc took to the air again on July 7, 2016.

Certainly his most difficult adventure came in 2005 when he underwent a double lung transplant at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He and Linda loaded up the fifth wheel at Halloween, his surgery was at Thanksgiving and they returned home to Wichita on Valentine’s Day.

He lived the next fifteen years celebrating each day for the gift that it was. Yes! was his response to camping trips, cocktail hour with friends, tinkering, playing cards, eating, learning new hobbies, experimenting on the Traeger, tinkering some more, and watching hours of soccer and basketball games and cross country meets and movies with grandkids.

Terry was preceded in death by his parents, Danny and Phyllis Noss; and sister, Pat Noss.

He is survived by his wife, Linda; sister Chris (Duke) Chadwell; brother-in-law, Fred Mays; sister-in-law, Bobbie Mays; son, Rob (Coralee) White; daughter, Renee (Parker) Young; grandchildren, Robert, Theda, Mirriah, Devin, and Dart White, and Taylor, Marie, and Hayden Young; plus too many nieces and nephews to count.

Terry always looked you in the eye and said goodbye with long hugs and handshakes, nothing left unsaid. He would not want tears, so instead, fill a glass with Gentleman Jack and raise a toast to a wonderful man.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate to Doc's Friends. Checks can be mailed to Doc’s Friends, PO Box 771089, Wichita, KS 67277 or donations can be made online by visiting https://www.b29doc.com/donate/