Henry Joeseph Kirst

A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Hank graduated from Creighton High School in 1941. He was a freshman at the University of Minnesota when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He dropped out and enlisted into the Army Air Corps. During the war, he was a pilot in the 55th Squadron of the 375th Troop Carrier Group. During two years in New Guinea and in the Philippines, he earned, among many medals, both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters.

While home on leave in 1945, Captain Kirst met his future wife, Betty Rhedin, on a blind date. They married in June of 1946 and Hank flew his bride in his Stearman biplane to their honeymoon at the Otis Lodge, a remote resort in northern Minnesota. He was hired by Trans World Airlines the next year, moving to Ypsilanti, Michigan to fly out of nearby Willow Run. A year later, they moved to Park Forest, Illinois where he flew out of O'Hare airport.

In 1952, Betty's arthritis prompted Hank to transfer to Los Angeles where they settled in nearby Torrance. Hank and Betty moved to Incline Village, Nevada in 1978. He retired from TWA in 1983 flying the LAX to London polar route in B-747s. In 37 years with the airline, he was rated on nine different aircraft and flew into four different continents.

Hank was a devoted husband and father, a Knight of Columbus and a founding member of the King Harbor Yacht Club.

Betty predeceased him in 2004. He is survived by his sons Jeffrey (Linda) and Bradley (Diana), his daughter Louise Kirst-Kaye (Terry), grandchildren Bryan (Erika), Jamie (Greg) Foley; Katherine, Kristina and Michael Kirst; Nicole and Rhianna Gesch-Kirst and great-grandchildren Zachary and Alexander Kirst, and Kaden and Cameron Foley.

Services will be held at St. Lawrence Martyr Church in Redondo Beach on Friday, March 14 at 10:30am. Burial will follow at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes.