John Bunyan Whitley, Jr. was born on February 15, 1920 from the union of John Bunyan Whitley and Daisy Odessa Simpson Whitley, on a farm south of Monroe, North Carolina. One of 11 children, John spent his early years working on the farm. As a teen, he helped his pilot brother Lewis recruit customers to fly in his Piper Cub in return for flying lessons. Thus began John’s interest in flying, which eventually led to him join the Army Air Corp during WWII. He flew 35 missions, most of these as the lead pilot of the 758th Bomber Squadron, a B-24 unit near Foggia, Italy during 1944 and 1945. He returned to Europe following the war and flew in support of the Berlin Airlift and also served as an air traffic controller at the Munich airport in 1949. John served 25 years in the Air Force, and over those years was stationed in Kansas, Oklahoma, Alaska, and Colorado Springs, where he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1962. Following military retirement, he was co-owner of the Town and Country Launderette until his final retirement in the early 70’s. John was a handyman who could fix anything and always had just the right item on hand when needed. He enjoyed fishing, gardening, country music, stamp collecting, and traveling with his wife in their motor home.
He married Geraldine Ruth Campbell on February 2, 1946. She preceded him in death in 2008. John is survived by his son, John R. Whitley (Yvette), daughter, Leah Niedringhaus (Dave), and two grandsons, Andrew Niedringhaus and J. T. Whitley. His grandson Patrick Niedringhaus died in 2005. John lived his life with integrity, patriotism, faith, kindness, and generosity. We have lost another member of the “Greatest Generation”.
A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, December 21st, at 2 p.m. at the Swan Law Chapel, 501 N. Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO. Memorial contributions in John’s memory may be directed to Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care, 2550 Tenderfoot Hill Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 (www.pikespeakhospice.org) or the National Museum of World War II Aviation, 755 Aviation Way, Colorado Springs, CO 80916 (www.worldwariiaviation.org)
