George Barnes Kettlewell

George Barnes Kettlewell, 92, of Georgetown passed away on Monday, February 1, 2010 at the Wesleyan Nursing Home after a courageous battle with Alzheimer’s disease. His youngest son Bill was at his side. A service of Thanksgiving and Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, February 5, 2010 at 11:00AM at First United Methodist Church on 410 East University Blvd in Georgetown. Interment will follow at 2:00pm at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen, Texas. George was born December 1, 1917 in Carson, IA to Charles L. Kettlewell and Blanche Barnes Kettlewell. There in this small farm town in the corn fields of western Iowa he spent his boyhood years where his father was the town’s pharmacist and owner of the drug store. After graduating from Carson High School where he participated in school band and sports such as baseball, he then attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City. There he majored in journalism and also played trumpet in the Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band. During his collegiate years he developed a life long love for Dixieland and big band music and continued in later life to play tunes from this era on piano. After graduation in 1938 George worked for the newspapers in Grinnell, IA and Scottsbluff, NE until the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 when he, like so many of that day, saw his life change irrevocably. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in June of 1942. While stationed for training in Tyler, Texas, he met Irma Dee Johnston who had grown up on a cotton farm near Chandler. They were married three months later in September of 1944. Soon afterward George was deployed to the Pacific Theater where he served honorably with a photo reconnaissance outfit as a radio operator and code specialist. At the end of World War II George briefly returned to newspapers, working for the Omaha World Herald until 1949. He then rejoined the U.S. Army, becoming an officer and intelligence specialist. During his military service, he was the recipient of numerous medals and citations including the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1954 he left active duty with the Army to join the Central Intelligence Agency with whom he spent the next 20 years until retiring after a very distinguished career. Throughout this time his work took him to live on three different continents and through many miles of travel to places that were on the cutting edge of history – Berlin, Libya, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Korea and many more. George was proud of his work and service to his country. We are all much the safer because of men like him. George and Irma Dee resided in Georgetown for most of the past decade where they were longtime members of the First United Methodist Church. Irma Dee preceded George in death on January 13, 2008. His parents Charles and Blanche Kettlewell, sister Katherine Hogzett and his half sister Dorothy Teft also preceded him in death. Cherishing his loving memory are his children Dick Kettlewell and his wife Joan of Fairburn, SD; Linda Blinde and her husband John of Herndon, VA; Chuck Kettlewell and his wife Mary Jane Thornton of Dallas, TX and Bill Kettlewell and his wife Karen of Georgetown, TX along with nine grandchildren, two great grandchildren and many other loving family members & countless friends. In lieu of flowers, the family wishes contributions be directed to The Wesleyan Nursing Home Benevolent Fund, 2100 Scenic Drive, Georgetown, Texas 78626.