EL PASO, Texas 1984— Russell Metzger, 70, a long time El Paso resident, died Monday following a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. His wife of May 2, 1942, Catherine Amelia Lawrence Metzger, preceded her husband in 1966.
Born July 16, 1913 in Trenton, New Jersey, to Hamilton Township patrolman Walter Metzger and May Diamond Metzger, he graduated in 1930 from Trenton High School. Following graduation, he served as invoice clerk in the employ of American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company and played second base on a local baseball team until February 18, 1941 when he met his country's call. Amid the gathering threat in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, he was the vanguard of FDR's controversial first ever peacetime conscription and was posted to Ft Bliss, Texas, basic training. Following the war, he remained a resident of El Paso for the next 43 years serving as Purchasing Manager with Momsen, Dunnegan and Ryan Company and later president-owner of Parke Bishop Medical Surgical Supply Corporation in El Paso.
A veteran of World War II, he served his country for 7-years, 1941-1948, as medical administrator at the Antiaircraft Artillery Training Center (AATC), Ft Bliss, administrative officer at Tilton General Hospital, Ft Dix, New Jersey, inspector at 351st Station Hospital, occupied Tokyo, Japan, and after the war, the Army Reserve. He graduated from the Medical Administrative Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Camp Barkeley, Texas, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on December 6, 1944. He rapidly rose in the ranks, uniquely promoted to every enlisted and officer rank from Private E1 to Lieutenant Colonel.
He was a member of the International Rotary, the Military Order of World Wars, El Maida Shrine, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Five Points Masonic Lodge No. 1137, and was a 32nd degree Mason. An accomplished pianist, he played in a New Jersey band before the war, Fort Bliss AATC USO dances, and was widely renown for his peppy tunes preceding the weekly Rotary meetings. Staff Sgt Metzger won a First Place $50 war bond in competition on the Kay Kyser Kollege of Musical Knowledge broadcast at the Ft Bliss AATC 16 October 1942.
Surviving are his second wife, Louise Reed Metzger of El Paso; two daughters, Patti Ann Coffman of Bakersfield, California, and Carol Lee Cobb of El Paso; a son, Stephen Lawrence Metzger of San Antonio, Texas; one sister, Virginia Morgan McCulloch of Hamilton Square, New Jersey; six grandchildren; thirteen great grandchildren; two nieces; and a nephew. Sister Gloria Rae Metzger of Trenton preceded him in 1975;
After a Requiem Eucharist administered by Reverend Kenneth Rice, burial took place Thursday, May 10, in Fort Bliss National Cemetery, El Paso, with full military honors.
Born July 16, 1913 in Trenton, New Jersey, to Hamilton Township patrolman Walter Metzger and May Diamond Metzger, he graduated in 1930 from Trenton High School. Following graduation, he served as invoice clerk in the employ of American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company and played second base on a local baseball team until February 18, 1941 when he met his country's call. Amid the gathering threat in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, he was the vanguard of FDR's controversial first ever peacetime conscription and was posted to Ft Bliss, Texas, basic training. Following the war, he remained a resident of El Paso for the next 43 years serving as Purchasing Manager with Momsen, Dunnegan and Ryan Company and later president-owner of Parke Bishop Medical Surgical Supply Corporation in El Paso.
A veteran of World War II, he served his country for 7-years, 1941-1948, as medical administrator at the Antiaircraft Artillery Training Center (AATC), Ft Bliss, administrative officer at Tilton General Hospital, Ft Dix, New Jersey, inspector at 351st Station Hospital, occupied Tokyo, Japan, and after the war, the Army Reserve. He graduated from the Medical Administrative Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Camp Barkeley, Texas, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on December 6, 1944. He rapidly rose in the ranks, uniquely promoted to every enlisted and officer rank from Private E1 to Lieutenant Colonel.
He was a member of the International Rotary, the Military Order of World Wars, El Maida Shrine, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Five Points Masonic Lodge No. 1137, and was a 32nd degree Mason. An accomplished pianist, he played in a New Jersey band before the war, Fort Bliss AATC USO dances, and was widely renown for his peppy tunes preceding the weekly Rotary meetings. Staff Sgt Metzger won a First Place $50 war bond in competition on the Kay Kyser Kollege of Musical Knowledge broadcast at the Ft Bliss AATC 16 October 1942.
Surviving are his second wife, Louise Reed Metzger of El Paso; two daughters, Patti Ann Coffman of Bakersfield, California, and Carol Lee Cobb of El Paso; a son, Stephen Lawrence Metzger of San Antonio, Texas; one sister, Virginia Morgan McCulloch of Hamilton Square, New Jersey; six grandchildren; thirteen great grandchildren; two nieces; and a nephew. Sister Gloria Rae Metzger of Trenton preceded him in 1975;
After a Requiem Eucharist administered by Reverend Kenneth Rice, burial took place Thursday, May 10, in Fort Bliss National Cemetery, El Paso, with full military honors.
EL PASO, Texas 1984— Russell Metzger, 70, a long time El Paso resident, died Monday following a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. His wife of May 2, 1942, Catherine Amelia Lawrence Metzger, preceded her husband in 1966.
Born July 16, 1913 in Trenton, New Jersey, to Hamilton Township patrolman Walter Metzger and May Diamond Metzger, he graduated in 1930 from Trenton High School. Following graduation, he served as invoice clerk in the employ of American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company and played second base on a local baseball team until February 18, 1941 when he met his country's call. Amid the gathering threat in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, he was the vanguard of FDR's controversial first ever peacetime conscription and was posted to Ft Bliss, Texas, basic training. Following the war, he remained a resident of El Paso for the next 43 years serving as Purchasing Manager with Momsen, Dunnegan and Ryan Company and later president-owner of Parke Bishop Medical Surgical Supply Corporation in El Paso.
A veteran of World War II, he served his country for 7-years, 1941-1948, as medical administrator at the Antiaircraft Artillery Training Center (AATC), Ft Bliss, administrative officer at Tilton General Hospital, Ft Dix, New Jersey, inspector at 351st Station Hospital, occupied Tokyo, Japan, and after the war, the Army Reserve. He graduated from the Medical Administrative Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Camp Barkeley, Texas, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on December 6, 1944. He rapidly rose in the ranks, uniquely promoted to every enlisted and officer rank from Private E1 to Lieutenant Colonel.
He was a member of the International Rotary, the Military Order of World Wars, El Maida Shrine, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Five Points Masonic Lodge No. 1137, and was a 32nd degree Mason. An accomplished pianist, he played in a New Jersey band before the war, Fort Bliss AATC USO dances, and was widely renown for his peppy tunes preceding the weekly Rotary meetings. Staff Sgt Metzger won a First Place $50 war bond in competition on the Kay Kyser Kollege of Musical Knowledge broadcast at the Ft Bliss AATC 16 October 1942.
Surviving are his second wife, Louise Reed Metzger of El Paso; two daughters, Patti Ann Coffman of Bakersfield, California, and Carol Lee Cobb of El Paso; a son, Stephen Lawrence Metzger of San Antonio, Texas; one sister, Virginia Morgan McCulloch of Hamilton Square, New Jersey; six grandchildren; thirteen great grandchildren; two nieces; and a nephew. Sister Gloria Rae Metzger of Trenton preceded him in 1975;
After a Requiem Eucharist administered by Reverend Kenneth Rice, burial took place Thursday, May 10, in Fort Bliss National Cemetery, El Paso, with full military honors.
Born July 16, 1913 in Trenton, New Jersey, to Hamilton Township patrolman Walter Metzger and May Diamond Metzger, he graduated in 1930 from Trenton High School. Following graduation, he served as invoice clerk in the employ of American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company and played second base on a local baseball team until February 18, 1941 when he met his country's call. Amid the gathering threat in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, he was the vanguard of FDR's controversial first ever peacetime conscription and was posted to Ft Bliss, Texas, basic training. Following the war, he remained a resident of El Paso for the next 43 years serving as Purchasing Manager with Momsen, Dunnegan and Ryan Company and later president-owner of Parke Bishop Medical Surgical Supply Corporation in El Paso.
A veteran of World War II, he served his country for 7-years, 1941-1948, as medical administrator at the Antiaircraft Artillery Training Center (AATC), Ft Bliss, administrative officer at Tilton General Hospital, Ft Dix, New Jersey, inspector at 351st Station Hospital, occupied Tokyo, Japan, and after the war, the Army Reserve. He graduated from the Medical Administrative Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Camp Barkeley, Texas, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on December 6, 1944. He rapidly rose in the ranks, uniquely promoted to every enlisted and officer rank from Private E1 to Lieutenant Colonel.
He was a member of the International Rotary, the Military Order of World Wars, El Maida Shrine, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Five Points Masonic Lodge No. 1137, and was a 32nd degree Mason. An accomplished pianist, he played in a New Jersey band before the war, Fort Bliss AATC USO dances, and was widely renown for his peppy tunes preceding the weekly Rotary meetings. Staff Sgt Metzger won a First Place $50 war bond in competition on the Kay Kyser Kollege of Musical Knowledge broadcast at the Ft Bliss AATC 16 October 1942.
Surviving are his second wife, Louise Reed Metzger of El Paso; two daughters, Patti Ann Coffman of Bakersfield, California, and Carol Lee Cobb of El Paso; a son, Stephen Lawrence Metzger of San Antonio, Texas; one sister, Virginia Morgan McCulloch of Hamilton Square, New Jersey; six grandchildren; thirteen great grandchildren; two nieces; and a nephew. Sister Gloria Rae Metzger of Trenton preceded him in 1975;
After a Requiem Eucharist administered by Reverend Kenneth Rice, burial took place Thursday, May 10, in Fort Bliss National Cemetery, El Paso, with full military honors.
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