William Orville Lighty

Bill Lighty, 96, passed away at Penrose Hospital on November 26,2020. Bill

has slipped the surley bonds of earth as he began his final flight into eternity to

see the face of God.

Bill was born on April 8, 1924, on the family farm near Satanta, KS. His early

years were spent on the plains of western Kansas and southeastern Colorado.

As a child he was fascinated by the early airplanes that would fly over the farm.

One day a barnstorming pilot noticed his Dad's gasoline pump and landed in

their field and offered to take young Bill and his father for a ride in exchange

for a tank of gasoline. That was Bill's first flight. The family lived near

Holly, CO, during the Dust Bowl, and he remembered the black walls of sand

moving across the landscape, and rising to the fence tops. In the mid-thirties

they moved to Canon City, CO, where Bill attended school. After high

school he married his high school sweetheart, Louise Stockton. They set off

to Chicago where Bill found a job and was able to take some flying lessons.

When the U.S. got into WWII, Bill enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He was

accepted as an Aviation Cadet and graduated in 1945 and began his career as a

2nd Lt. flying missions over the southeast coast of the U.S. spotting German

submarines.

Bill was also a dedicated family man and he and Louise raised 4 children as

they traveled with the Military. Bill proudly served his country in three wars

with the USAF.

After WWII, Bill polished his fighter skills and did fighter and guided missle

testing at Wendover, UT and Alamagordo, NM. He was deployed to Japan to

participate in the occupation of Japan. He flew combat missions in the

Korean War. In 1952 he flew the first wing fighter flight over the Atlantic to

Europe and the UK. He did early in-air refueling and was stationed at

Weathersfield, Braintree, Englund. By 1960, he and his family were stationed

at Kadena AFB in Okinawa and then Bill went to Tan Son Nuit Air Base in Vietnam

where he was a Squadron Commander and flew daily sorties in the

souped up P-51 and F-86. In 1965 he was deployed a 2nd time to Vietnam

where he flew 109 missions from Tan Son Nuit.

In 1966 he returned to the U.S. to Cannon AFB, NM, where he retired in 1970

as Lt. Col. During his service he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, an

Air Medal and 8 Oak Leaf Clusters, WWI Victory Medal, Army of

Occupation Medal of Japan, Korean Service Medal, 3 Bronze Stars Armed

Forced Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medals. Bill flew every

fighter plane between the P-51 and the F-111.

ln 1976 Bill settled in Colorado Springs, CO, where he married his current

wife, Joan Greenwalt Ummel and added two more children to his family. He

started a new career in commercial Real Estate. He and his partners owned

Transwestern Properties. Back in his beloved mountains, he loved fishing,

camping, cutting his own firewood and Christmas trees. He loved backyard

gardening and dragging around railroad ties, laying paver bricks, and building

fences while landscaping their hillside home. He built model airplanes and

gardened into his 90's. His grandchildren loved the raspberries and cherries and

called him the Grandpa who tells stories.

Bill is preceded in death by his parents, Ora J. and Zelpha Ann Lighty,

bothers, Orlan and AIfred Lighty, Great Grandson, Joshua Mapstead, and Son-in-Law

Tom McClure. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Joan, 6 children,

Barbara (Hugh) Fordyce, Pat (Tom) McClure, Michele (Dennis) Raisch,

William C. (Carol) Lighty, Clark Ummel, and Carrie Beck. Sister Orda Mae

(Russell) Bean, 12 Grandchildren, 19 Great Grandchildren, and 2 Great Great

Grandchildren.

Due to the Covid Virus, Funeral Services; Burial at Pikes Peak National

Cemetery with full Military Honors and Celebration of Life, will be postponed

until later in the new year when friends and family are able to travel to

Colorado Springs, and congregate safely.