Elton Weston

Elton Weston Kearney resident Elton L. Weston, 79 of Kearney died Friday, May 6, 2011 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. A Memorial Service will be held 10:30 A.M. Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at O'Brien-Straatmann Funeral Home. Interment will take place 2:30 P.M. Tuesday at Fort McPherson National Cemetery with military honors provided by Offutt Air Force Honor Guard. Memorials are suggested to the Gibbon American Legion Post # 310. O'Brien-Straatmann Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences or personal reflections may be submitted at www.osafh.com Elton Lawrence Weston was born January 25, 1932 in Gibbon, Nebraska to Lawrence and Bernice Weston. He attended District #18 and played on the Gibbon baseball team. After graduating from Gibbon High School in 1948, he went to Nebraska Wesleyan University, majoring in Chemistry. Elton was united in marriage to Beverly Cobleigh in December of 1953. Upon graduating from Wesleyan, he joined the Air Force, hoping to fly fighter planes. He was first stationed at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Next, he went to Thule Airbase in northern Greenland. He was in the Air Defense Command and flying interceptor planes over the frozen arctic North Pole region. While in Greenland he lived in a well insulated ice house and flew the F-89 known as the “Lead Sled.” Elton returned to the States and was then stationed at Paine Field near Seattle, Washington. In 1961 as a Captain, he was sent to Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama for a year. He was glad to finish his courses and was stationed at Hahn Airbase, Germany, with the 496th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. After three years in Germany, Elton was sent to DePauw University at Greencastle, Indiana, to serve as a ROTC Instructor. Elton was anxious to get back to a flying assignment, so at the age of 37, he volunteered to go to Vietnam. He joined the 559th Tactical Fighter Squadron, known as the “Billy Goat Squadron” at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Elton flew the newest USAF fighter bombers, the F-4’s in 176 combat missions for close air support with Army and Marine soldiers such as “Troops in contact, friendly forces being overrun, or supply convoys spotted by friendly forces.” After Elton’s tour in Vietnam, he was an instructor for 9 months teaching about close air support at Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Elton was selected to be the Air Attaché to Afghanistan and was sent to Washington D.C. for language school and trained to pilot a twin engine airplane, the C-131 Embassy airplane out of Kabul, Afghanistan. He worked for the Ambassador and flew missions throughout central Asia from June 1972 to July 1974. His last station was Cannon Air Force Base, Clovis, New Mexico where he flew C-131’s transport airplanes in support of F-111 Tactical Fighter/Bomber station there. In 1975, Elton retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after 22 years in the Air Force and moved back to Nebraska, close to his family. His awards include the Air Force Commendation Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 10 Oak Clusters and the Vietnam Vietnamese Service medal with a Bronze Star. He and Beverly bought a Fixed Base Operation in Kearney named Midway Aviation and became responsible for renting airplanes, hosting a flight training school, instructing and flying charter flights as well as flying for the Nebraska Fish and Wildlife bird-counts in the spring. He sold and retired from Midway Aviation after 20 years. His hobbies included flying, painting and writing of his experiences in the Air Force. Elton is survived by his wife, Beverly of Kearney; sons, Dr. Lawrence Weston and his wife, Kate of Simpsonville, SC, John Weston and his wife, Anna-Maria of Sugar Land, TX, Dr. Mark Weston and his wife, Jeanette of Portland, OR, Dr. Michael Weston and his wife, Susan of Omaha; 10 grandchildren; brother, Dr. Irving Weston and his wife, Bobbi of Sisters, OR; sisters, LaVonne Pedersen and her husband, John of Newnan, GA, Janice Funkey and her husband, Glen of Abilene, TX; 14 nieces and nephews. Elton was preceded in death by his parents.

Elton Weston

January 25, 1932 - May 6, 2011