Horace Walters

Horace C. Walters, 95, passed away Friday, April 10, 2015, at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. James T. Hall, in Cape Girardeau.

He was born Dec. 14, 1919, in Blytheville, Arkansas, son of Retha Jarratt and Joseph Whithorn Walters.

The grandson of a Methodist circuit rider, he was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church.

During World War II, Horace was a radio navigator with the 38th Bombardier Group of the 405th Bombardier Squadron of the Army Air Force in the Pacific Theater. For a time when his squadron lost most of their planes, he flew undercover medical evacuation flights across Australia and was billeted with an Australian family. During the war he corresponded with June Vivian Lansing, whom he married Nov. 12, 1944, in Advance, Missouri. The 344 letters from those four years of service remain a Walters family treasure.

A born teacher, Horace was a flight instructor to outstanding pilot candidates from 33 allied countries at the Anderson Air Activities Air Force Base in Malden, Missouri, in the 1950s. During the 1960s, '70s and '80s he taught many "fine young men," as he referred to them, at the Tri-County Trade School in Malden and the Sikeston public schools in Sikeston, Missouri.

He was preceded in death by his wife, June, in 2008; his son, Lance, in 2005; two brothers and a sister; and two nephews and a niece.

He is survived by his two daughters, Cyndy (James T.) Hall and Robin (Steven) Goertz of Gainesville, Florida; a daughter-in-law, LaDona Whitaker Walters of Austin, Texas; seven grandchildren, Ashley (Andrew) Hall Jones, Regen Hall, Lance and Jason Walters and Hunter, Hans and Mackenzie Goertz; a great-granddaughter, Freya Jones; seven nieces; and three nephews.

A graveside service with full military honors will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, under the direction of Ponder Funeral Home.

Online condolences may be left at ponderfuneralhome.com.

The family requests that memorials may be made in Horace's name to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.