Dallas Hovatter, Jr. 96, formerly of St. Charles, MO passed away at Courtyards Senior Living in Johnson City, TN on Monday, March 31, 2014. Dallas was born September 17, 1917, to the late Dallas Hovatter, Sr. and the late Carlotta Emma Margarita Dannebaum Hovatter in Los Angeles, CA. He grew up on a ranch which was homesteaded by his father in Welton, AZ. At age 16 Dallas had a job which earned him enough money to take flying lessons at the local airport. Dallas graduated from Yuma Union High School in 1935. Dallas had built up his flight time but before he could take his pilot's exam he was drafted into the Army in 1941. Dallas preferred to be around aircraft so he enlisted in the Air Force and received training as an Airframe and Power Plant Mechanic. He was transferred to Hamilton Field near San Francisco to work on P38s. He was later transferred to a service squadron which went to England where he worked on B17s and B24s. At the end of the war Dal was honorably discharged. He went to work in Yuma, AZ for Arizona Public Service as a water plant manager. In 1949 Dallas was a mechanic on "The City of Yuma," an airplane that set an endurance record of 1124 hours (47 days) without landing. He made several modifications to the body and engine of the airplane to make this possible. Dallas married Jewel Evelyn Southerland Ray and raised her daughters Dorothy Lee and Glenna June Ray. Dal and Jewel's daughter Carolyn was born in 1952. After Jewel's death in 1958, Dallas subsequently married Carol Lois McVey Wagner. He also raised her children Heather and Arthur Franklin Wagner. In 1968 the water company transferred the family to Mexico, MO where he accomplished improvements to that water system. In 1973 the company transferred him to St Charles, MO where he rehabilitated the water plant. He retired in 1986 at age 69 when that project was complete. When he lived in Arizona he was a private pilot. He few all over Arizona, California and into Mexico on fishing and vacation trips. Dallas and Carol traveled to all 50 states, parts of Canada and Mexico. Nova Scotia was a favorite Memory. Dallas was the caregiver for his wife Carol until she passed away in 2008. Dallas was a member of the Elks Lodge #476 and Free and Accepted Masonic Lodge #17 in Yuma, Arizona. In the Order of the Eastern Star he served as Worthy Patron with his mother as Worthy Matron. He was a founding member of United Methodist Church of the Shepherd in St Charles, MO. He is survived by his daughters Dorothy Winburn, June Leger, Carolyn Burrows and Heather Wagner, his son Arthur Wagner, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Dallas is preceded in death by his siblings Alfred A. Hovatter, Donald J. Hovatter and Virginia Wright.
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