Willard Earl Edward "Bill" ABRAHAM's Memorial was originally created by Connie C. MADRAY. Thank you Connie for transferring Bill's memorial to his family – we sincerely appreciate your thoughtfulness in setting up his memorial for him and the ABRAHAM family!
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Retired Eastern Airlines Captain Willard Earl Edward "Bill" Abraham, age 96, of Gainesville, Georgia, passed away November 24, 2015. His memorial service was held at 2 p.m. Saturday, December 5, at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2023 Memorial Park Road, Gainesville, Georgia followed by an informal reception at the church for all attending.

Survivors include his wife, Mary Ann; son, James Abraham and wife, Susan; daughter-in-law, Lyn Abraham; grandsons, Sean Abraham and wife, Charity, Jason Abraham; as well as sisters, Donna Nelson, Raytown, Missouri, Alice Daniels, Kansas City, Missouri; and several nieces and nephews.

Bill was preceded in death by his first wife, Ruth Edna Abraham, née Hill; and son, Willard Edward "Billy" a.k.a. "Bill" Abraham; sisters, Ila May McNair, Mary Leona Martin, Margaret Elise Jameson and Catherine Jean Canon; and brothers, Ralph Sumner Abraham and James Howard "Jim" Abraham.

For 20 years, Bill was a devoted husband to his second wife, Mary Ann. He was committed to his church, serving on many committees. His other passion was playing poker with the Tuesday night group and playing Gin Rummy most evenings with his friend, Sally Britt, who offered much loving support in the past months. A special thanks to Melinda Copeland and Lola Blair for all the food. He enjoyed Friday morning breakfasts with the retired Eastern Air Lines pilots at Loretta's. He will be missed by all who knew him as a man of integrity, personal strength, humility, and honesty.

His parents, James Willard and Maude (née Sumner) Abraham, moved from Douglas County, Nebraska near the community of Valley to Benton County, Arkansas near Siloam Springs during November 1916, and Bill, their seventh child and 3rd son of nine children, was born on December 31, 1918.

The Abraham Family lived on a small farm near Siloam Springs and Bill learned to plow with a team of horses and a walking plow when he was 8 years old. He soon was earning a little money plowing gardens for the town people, usually getting 20 cents per hour for him, two horses and plow. He played high school football and after graduation he received a full football scholarship to the University of Arkansas.

Staying only one year, he transferred to Northeast Junior College in Monroe, Louisiana, which is now LSU Monroe. The U.S.A. government had entered World War II and pilots were needed so students were asked to volunteer for the training; the junior college had received a government grant to start a flying school and Bill's desire to be a pilot was the reason he decided to transfer from the University of Arkansas to LSU Monroe. From the age of eight, when he first saw barnstormer pilots flying their planes over the Arkansas cow pastures near his home, he had dreamed of being a pilot.

Barnstorming season usually ran from spring until after the fall harvest and county fairs. The Barnstormer pilots, for a day or two, would sell airplane rides over farm fields before moving on to the next community. Bill never had the two to three dollars it cost for a ride but when he was thirteen, he was given a free ride by one of the barnstormers as payment for some errands he had done for the pilot. As the passenger, Bill rode in the front seat and the pilot was behind him in a back seat. The cockpit was open with a small windshield about head high to block some of the wind, but it was still necessary to wear goggles as eye protection from the wind. The pilot flew the plane straight and level for about four to five miles before turning back to return to land the plane in the field where they had taken off. When asked what his mother thought when she heard he had been up in an airplane with a barnstormer, Bill, with a thoughtful chuckle, simply described her reaction as "SHE THREW A FIT!" In spite of the consequences invoked by a worried mother, Bill, with a smile from ear to ear, always described his first flight as GREAT!

Bill's training at the two year junior college was in a Piper Cub aircraft. After three hours of instructions, he soloed and after getting his required flight time, he obtained his license to fly a Piper Cub. He then continued in the program to get his commercial pilot license. He did not have his instrument pilot license but applied to Easter Airlines for a job as a pilot and was accepted; Eastern provided the training for his instrument license in a DC-3.

Eastern sent him to New York as a copilot on the DC-3. After completing the flight training, he was assigned to fly the line as copilot for two and a half years and then passed his captain rating. He was council chairman of the Board of Adjustments. After serving two 18-month terms on the System board, he went on the pilots negotiating committee and helped negotiate the next contract.

Bill retired from Eastern Air Lines on December 29, 1978, after 36 years of service. He flew the L-1011 on his last flight, Flight 98 from Miami-San Juan-Atlanta.

In lieu of flowers, memorials were made to Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2023 Memorial Park Road, Gainesville, GA 30501. Arrangements were in the care of Ward's Funeral Home, 758 Main Street, Gainesville, Georgia.
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Memorial maintained by L. ABRAHAM, child of Uncle Bill's brother and sister-in-law, James Howard and Margaret (née LEE) ABRAHAM.