Nowell O. Didear

ROYSE CITY -- Nowell O. Didear died Monday, Oct. 30, 2000, at his daughter's
home in Royse City. 

Funeral: 2 p.m. Thursday at Capps Memorial Chapel in Fairfield. Honor guard
graveside service: Birdston Cemetery near Streetman. 

Nowell O. Didear was born Jan. 11, 1921, in Bebe, Gonzales County. After
graduating from high school in 1938, he enlisted as a private in the Army Air
Corps. He served as a weather observer at the old Fort Clark in West Texas,
where the landing strip did double duty as a parade ground for the cavalry. In
1943, World War II gave him the chance to earn his lieutenant's bar and fighter
pilot's wings at Brooks Field in San Antonio. He was married about the same
time to Mary Lynn Burns of Natalia, who died in 1949. 

Stationed in Naples in 1944, Mr. Didear flew various aircraft on ground support
missions to the front about 40 miles north of the city; the pilots' nightly
beacon was the glare of Mount Vesuvius, active for the first time in 1,900
years. One of those missions earned him a Silver Star for destroying three
Stuka Dive Bombers and damaging three others in the air. As a highly decorated
fighter pilot and officer, Mr. Didear was later instrumental in organizing the
Texas Air National Guard, in which he served with distinction during the Korean
War and later back in Texas. 

In 1950 while training in Virginia, he met and later married Mary Lou Jordahl,
who loved him through thick and thin for 48 years until her death in 1998. Mr.
Didear retired in 1975 as a brigadier general, command pilot and wing commander
of the 136th Air Refueling Wing headquartered in Dallas. 

For the next 20 years, he and Mary raised cattle and worked on their dream
home, a converted railroad depot, at their ranch in Streetman. 

Survivors: His daughter, Diane; sons, Nowell L., Pat, David and Jimmy; 11
grandchildren; and a pair of great-grandchildren.

Capps Memorial Chapel, Fairfield

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Nowell O. Didear, 79, passed away Monday, Oct. 30, 2000 at his daughter's home
in Royse City. 

The family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Capps Memorial
Chapel. 

Services will be 2 p.m. Thursday at Capps Memorial Chapel. A military graveside
service will follow at Birdston Cemetery near Streetman. 

Mr. Didear was born Jan. 11, 1921 in Bebe, Gonzales County. After graduating
from high school in 1938, he enlisted as a private in the Army Air Corps. He
served as a weather observer at old Fort Clark in West Texas, where the landing
strip did double duty as a parade ground for the cavalry. In 1943, World War II
gave him the chance to earn his lieutenant's bar and fighter pilot's wings at
Brooks Field in San Antonio. He was married about the same time to Mary Lynn
Burns of Natalia, who died in 1949. 

Stationed in Naples in 1944, Mr. Didear flew various aircraft on ground support
missions to the front about 40 miles north of the city; the pilots' nightly
beacon was the glare of Mt. Vesuvius, active for the first time in 1,900 years.
One of those missions earned him a Silver Star for destroying three Stuka Dive
Bombers and damaging three others in the air. As a highly decorated fighter
pilot and officer, Mr. Didear was later instrumental in organizing the Texas
Air National Guard, in which he served with distinction during the Korean
conflict and later back in Texas. In 1950 while training in Virginia, he met
and later married Mary Lou Jordahl, who loved him through thick and thin for 48
years until her death in 1998. 

Mr. Didear retired in 1975 as a brigadier general, command pilot and wing
commander of the 136th Air Refueling Wing headquartered in Dallas. For the next
20-odd years, he and his wife raised cattle and worked on their dream home, a
converted railroad depot at their ranch in Streetman. 

Mr. Didear is survived by his daughter, Diane; four sons, Nowell L., Pat, David
and Jimmy; 11 grandchildren and a pair of great-grandchildren. 

Arrangements by Capps Memorial Chapel of Fairfield.

Corsicana Daily Sun  11/1/2000