Lt. Col. Hoyt Elton Addison, Sr. USAF RET passed away peacefully in the early afternoon on April 8th, 2018 in Pensacola, Florida surrounded by his three loving daughters with his son flying west on I-10 trying to get there. He was nearly 92 years old and had just squeezed every ounce of life out of the earthbound body that God gave him and now has been remade whole in the arms of his Creator. We, his family, invite you to join us as we joyously celebrate his astonishing life and our own good fortune at having been there to see it and to experience the rare pleasure of having been loved by this man. In all the world there was nothing like it.
He was a child of the Great Depression, born June 3rd, 1926 in Anacoco, Louisiana to T. J. and Rebecca Burr Addison. His father died when he was very young and his mother, Aunt Becky, raised him on a diet of love, grit and tenacity in the clay hills and pine forests of west central Louisiana.
He enlisted in the US Army in his late teens and served as an airframe and powerplant mechanic in Munich at the end of World War II. At the end of his enlistment he bought a Stearman biplane from a US Navy surplus auction, took a couple hours of flight instruction and set out across the country to make his fortune out west. He found fortune of a different kind when he met his bride, Gladys Niles, while out walking in Phoenix, Arizona. They have been married for 68 years.
Shortly thereafter young Hoyt Addison gained acceptance to the USAAF Aviation Cadet Program and through Officer Candidate School obtained an officers commission in the US Air Force. In a career that spanned nearly 25 years he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and amassed tens of thousands of hours of command pilot time in an airplane. He was an Air Commando, having served with Special Operations Forces in various and often covert capacities. We knew the general idea of his service but, as to any specifics, dad took his secrets to his grave just like he promised them he would.
He retired from the Air Force in 1968 and at age 42 bought 400 acres of raw land in the Northwest Florida panhandle and set about bending it to his will with the sweat of his brow and the skin off his knuckles. There he created a paradise for his three daughters and only son to grow up in and to learn the ways of the world. He built lakes and pastures and barns and roads and fences. He raised poultry commercially and cattle as a sideline, and children who became well familiar with the concept of hard work.
With the children grown and moved away and his supply of slave labor depleted, dad bought an airplane and turned the farm into an airport. He towed advertising banners up and down the beach from his little airstrip some 30 miles inland. He flew for the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Department, sometimes transporting people, sometimes looking for illegal crops. He flew air ambulance missions and was active with the Civil Air Patrol. He and his wife explored the US and beyond in the airplanes he owned.
As he aged he traded in his airplanes for a series of motorhomes and again criss-crossed the country with his wife. They drove to New England to see the leaves change and twice drove the Al-Can highway all the way up to Alaska to see the country and fish the salmon run.
He is survived by his wife Gladys Mary Niles Addison, four children: Cynthia Lorraine Johnson-Hall and her husband Dennis Hall, Julie Ann Bragg and her husband James Bragg, Carol Jo-An Williams and her husband James Dean Williams, and Hoyt E. Addison, Jr., six grandchildren: Jared Bragg and his wife Karen, Amanda Graham and her husband Bryan, Kacy Diane Williams, Justin Bragg and his wife Brittany, Jake Johnson and his wife Crystal, and Cooper Johnson, and six great-grandchildren Hayden Graham, Bryce Graham, Carter Bragg, Nolan Bragg, Lilly Johnson and Briar Johnson and a host of other loving friends and relatives.
He was a child of the Great Depression, born June 3rd, 1926 in Anacoco, Louisiana to T. J. and Rebecca Burr Addison. His father died when he was very young and his mother, Aunt Becky, raised him on a diet of love, grit and tenacity in the clay hills and pine forests of west central Louisiana.
He enlisted in the US Army in his late teens and served as an airframe and powerplant mechanic in Munich at the end of World War II. At the end of his enlistment he bought a Stearman biplane from a US Navy surplus auction, took a couple hours of flight instruction and set out across the country to make his fortune out west. He found fortune of a different kind when he met his bride, Gladys Niles, while out walking in Phoenix, Arizona. They have been married for 68 years.
Shortly thereafter young Hoyt Addison gained acceptance to the USAAF Aviation Cadet Program and through Officer Candidate School obtained an officers commission in the US Air Force. In a career that spanned nearly 25 years he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and amassed tens of thousands of hours of command pilot time in an airplane. He was an Air Commando, having served with Special Operations Forces in various and often covert capacities. We knew the general idea of his service but, as to any specifics, dad took his secrets to his grave just like he promised them he would.
He retired from the Air Force in 1968 and at age 42 bought 400 acres of raw land in the Northwest Florida panhandle and set about bending it to his will with the sweat of his brow and the skin off his knuckles. There he created a paradise for his three daughters and only son to grow up in and to learn the ways of the world. He built lakes and pastures and barns and roads and fences. He raised poultry commercially and cattle as a sideline, and children who became well familiar with the concept of hard work.
With the children grown and moved away and his supply of slave labor depleted, dad bought an airplane and turned the farm into an airport. He towed advertising banners up and down the beach from his little airstrip some 30 miles inland. He flew for the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Department, sometimes transporting people, sometimes looking for illegal crops. He flew air ambulance missions and was active with the Civil Air Patrol. He and his wife explored the US and beyond in the airplanes he owned.
As he aged he traded in his airplanes for a series of motorhomes and again criss-crossed the country with his wife. They drove to New England to see the leaves change and twice drove the Al-Can highway all the way up to Alaska to see the country and fish the salmon run.
He is survived by his wife Gladys Mary Niles Addison, four children: Cynthia Lorraine Johnson-Hall and her husband Dennis Hall, Julie Ann Bragg and her husband James Bragg, Carol Jo-An Williams and her husband James Dean Williams, and Hoyt E. Addison, Jr., six grandchildren: Jared Bragg and his wife Karen, Amanda Graham and her husband Bryan, Kacy Diane Williams, Justin Bragg and his wife Brittany, Jake Johnson and his wife Crystal, and Cooper Johnson, and six great-grandchildren Hayden Graham, Bryce Graham, Carter Bragg, Nolan Bragg, Lilly Johnson and Briar Johnson and a host of other loving friends and relatives.
Lt. Col. Hoyt Elton Addison, Sr. USAF RET passed away peacefully in the early afternoon on April 8th, 2018 in Pensacola, Florida surrounded by his three loving daughters with his son flying west on I-10 trying to get there. He was nearly 92 years old and had just squeezed every ounce of life out of the earthbound body that God gave him and now has been remade whole in the arms of his Creator. We, his family, invite you to join us as we joyously celebrate his astonishing life and our own good fortune at having been there to see it and to experience the rare pleasure of having been loved by this man. In all the world there was nothing like it.
He was a child of the Great Depression, born June 3rd, 1926 in Anacoco, Louisiana to T. J. and Rebecca Burr Addison. His father died when he was very young and his mother, Aunt Becky, raised him on a diet of love, grit and tenacity in the clay hills and pine forests of west central Louisiana.
He enlisted in the US Army in his late teens and served as an airframe and powerplant mechanic in Munich at the end of World War II. At the end of his enlistment he bought a Stearman biplane from a US Navy surplus auction, took a couple hours of flight instruction and set out across the country to make his fortune out west. He found fortune of a different kind when he met his bride, Gladys Niles, while out walking in Phoenix, Arizona. They have been married for 68 years.
Shortly thereafter young Hoyt Addison gained acceptance to the USAAF Aviation Cadet Program and through Officer Candidate School obtained an officers commission in the US Air Force. In a career that spanned nearly 25 years he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and amassed tens of thousands of hours of command pilot time in an airplane. He was an Air Commando, having served with Special Operations Forces in various and often covert capacities. We knew the general idea of his service but, as to any specifics, dad took his secrets to his grave just like he promised them he would.
He retired from the Air Force in 1968 and at age 42 bought 400 acres of raw land in the Northwest Florida panhandle and set about bending it to his will with the sweat of his brow and the skin off his knuckles. There he created a paradise for his three daughters and only son to grow up in and to learn the ways of the world. He built lakes and pastures and barns and roads and fences. He raised poultry commercially and cattle as a sideline, and children who became well familiar with the concept of hard work.
With the children grown and moved away and his supply of slave labor depleted, dad bought an airplane and turned the farm into an airport. He towed advertising banners up and down the beach from his little airstrip some 30 miles inland. He flew for the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Department, sometimes transporting people, sometimes looking for illegal crops. He flew air ambulance missions and was active with the Civil Air Patrol. He and his wife explored the US and beyond in the airplanes he owned.
As he aged he traded in his airplanes for a series of motorhomes and again criss-crossed the country with his wife. They drove to New England to see the leaves change and twice drove the Al-Can highway all the way up to Alaska to see the country and fish the salmon run.
He is survived by his wife Gladys Mary Niles Addison, four children: Cynthia Lorraine Johnson-Hall and her husband Dennis Hall, Julie Ann Bragg and her husband James Bragg, Carol Jo-An Williams and her husband James Dean Williams, and Hoyt E. Addison, Jr., six grandchildren: Jared Bragg and his wife Karen, Amanda Graham and her husband Bryan, Kacy Diane Williams, Justin Bragg and his wife Brittany, Jake Johnson and his wife Crystal, and Cooper Johnson, and six great-grandchildren Hayden Graham, Bryce Graham, Carter Bragg, Nolan Bragg, Lilly Johnson and Briar Johnson and a host of other loving friends and relatives.
He was a child of the Great Depression, born June 3rd, 1926 in Anacoco, Louisiana to T. J. and Rebecca Burr Addison. His father died when he was very young and his mother, Aunt Becky, raised him on a diet of love, grit and tenacity in the clay hills and pine forests of west central Louisiana.
He enlisted in the US Army in his late teens and served as an airframe and powerplant mechanic in Munich at the end of World War II. At the end of his enlistment he bought a Stearman biplane from a US Navy surplus auction, took a couple hours of flight instruction and set out across the country to make his fortune out west. He found fortune of a different kind when he met his bride, Gladys Niles, while out walking in Phoenix, Arizona. They have been married for 68 years.
Shortly thereafter young Hoyt Addison gained acceptance to the USAAF Aviation Cadet Program and through Officer Candidate School obtained an officers commission in the US Air Force. In a career that spanned nearly 25 years he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and amassed tens of thousands of hours of command pilot time in an airplane. He was an Air Commando, having served with Special Operations Forces in various and often covert capacities. We knew the general idea of his service but, as to any specifics, dad took his secrets to his grave just like he promised them he would.
He retired from the Air Force in 1968 and at age 42 bought 400 acres of raw land in the Northwest Florida panhandle and set about bending it to his will with the sweat of his brow and the skin off his knuckles. There he created a paradise for his three daughters and only son to grow up in and to learn the ways of the world. He built lakes and pastures and barns and roads and fences. He raised poultry commercially and cattle as a sideline, and children who became well familiar with the concept of hard work.
With the children grown and moved away and his supply of slave labor depleted, dad bought an airplane and turned the farm into an airport. He towed advertising banners up and down the beach from his little airstrip some 30 miles inland. He flew for the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Department, sometimes transporting people, sometimes looking for illegal crops. He flew air ambulance missions and was active with the Civil Air Patrol. He and his wife explored the US and beyond in the airplanes he owned.
As he aged he traded in his airplanes for a series of motorhomes and again criss-crossed the country with his wife. They drove to New England to see the leaves change and twice drove the Al-Can highway all the way up to Alaska to see the country and fish the salmon run.
He is survived by his wife Gladys Mary Niles Addison, four children: Cynthia Lorraine Johnson-Hall and her husband Dennis Hall, Julie Ann Bragg and her husband James Bragg, Carol Jo-An Williams and her husband James Dean Williams, and Hoyt E. Addison, Jr., six grandchildren: Jared Bragg and his wife Karen, Amanda Graham and her husband Bryan, Kacy Diane Williams, Justin Bragg and his wife Brittany, Jake Johnson and his wife Crystal, and Cooper Johnson, and six great-grandchildren Hayden Graham, Bryce Graham, Carter Bragg, Nolan Bragg, Lilly Johnson and Briar Johnson and a host of other loving friends and relatives.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
