Ronald "Rex" Mullenix

Loving Husband, Father, Brother, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Veteran and Patriot.

Ronald “Rex” Mullenix passed away peacefully on January 2nd in the company of daughter Holly at her farm in McArthur, Ohio. Rex was preceded in death by his wife (our mother) Helen, parents John and Edna Mullenix, and sisters Maxine Onweller, Bernadine Jarrett, Eloise Duarte and Sigrid Siegel. He is survived by son Dane and daughter Holly, daughter-in-law Nancy Mullenix, sister Harriet Lowe, grandchildren Ryan and Johanna Mullenix, Brad and Kathryne Mullenix, Erin and Kevin Ta and great-grandchildren Leo Mullenix, Grace Mullenix and twins Aiden and Averi Ta, along with a host of loving friends and relations.

Rex was born and raised in Tiltonsville, Ohio; a tiny blue-collar town on the Ohio River, the only boy among 5 sisters. Rex was raised during the great depression, spending time hunting, fishing, playing varsity basketball and swimming the Ohio River Rex graduated from high school in 1943, then immediately went off to serve in the Army Air Corps in World-War II as a B-26 gunner. Following the 1944 D-Day Invasion, Rex flew over 40 combat missions in the B-26 over Europe earning several Air medals in combat including one for downing a German Jet Fighter, the first ever downed by a bomber gunner.

After the war, Rex enrolled in college at Ohio University under the GI-Bill. While at Ohio U Rex met and married our mother, the former Helen Ritchey of Warren Ohio. Rex and Helen graduated from OU in 1950, continuing a collaboration of over 70 years that would produce two children, a 26-year Air Force career and second-careers for each of them that included Real Estate Development and Sales, a co-owned retail store and an Antiques-appraisal business.

Following his commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force in 1950, Rex served a highly successful career that included assignments in Alabama, Iceland, Massachusetts, Illinois, California, France, Germany, Michigan and multiple tours at Wright Patterson AFB here in Ohio, culminating in his retirement as a Lt Colonel, in 1973. Highlights of Rex’s long career included oversight for construction of hundreds of military family housing units, an imbedded assignment with industry during the development of the XB-70 supersonic bomber and the in-residence completion of his MBA Degree at Harvard University.

The last few years had been difficult, for Rex and for those of us closest to him. Following our mother’s stroke in 2014, Rex became our mother’s primary caregiver at the age of 90. Although his role as her primary caregiver diminished in the next few years with his own declining health, Rex’s service and devotion to Helen continued until her passing in 2020. With all of that, and to the very end of his life, Rex remained positive, and jovial. He was a joy to his family and to his caregivers in Arizona and Ohio.

Rex’s legacy is long and loving. Practically everybody that came to know Rex loved him. Rex loved people (and kids and dogs and fishing) and they loved him back! For nearly a century, he had blessed this world with his wit and wisdom, love and kindness that will long endure in our collective memories. We dedicate this remembrance to the many people whose lives were touched by Rex. We are comforted in knowing that he rests in peace among family and friends as those he has touched will remember him fondly for all time.

God bless you dad…and forever Rest in Peace.

A visitation for Rex will be held Friday, January 6, 2023 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Tobias Funeral Home, 3970 Dayton Xenia Road, Beavercreek, Ohio. A funeral service will occur Saturday, January 7, 2023 at 10:00 AM at Tobias Funeral Home.

Rex will be laid to rest in Beaver Cemetery, 1180 Dayton Xenia Road, Beavercreek, Ohio.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.tobias-fh.com for the Mullenix family.