--I Timothy 2:4-7
E.C.
"Chris" Falwell passed away on Monday, March 5,
2012 at his daughter's home in Bonners Ferry,
Idaho. He was 91 years old.Born in October 1920 to Frank and Jennie Mae Falwell of Edna, Texas, he was the third oldest of six children.
Life was tough during the Great Depression, and he worked hard to help support his family. Chris dropped out of high school and at 18 enlisted in the Army's 2nd Cavalry Division, the horse drawn field artillery. His favorite mount was an incorrigible Morgan horse named Smokie. Discharged after three years, he immediately re-enlisted when Pearl Harbor was bombed December 7, 1941.
In 1943, at 22 years of age, Chris earned his wings in the new Army Air Corps as a "Gliderman" at Twentynine Palms, California. He was soon deployed via the Queen Mary, now outfitted for the military, to Aldermaston, England, where he was stationed as a Flight Officer in the 434th Troop Carrier Group, 71st Squadron, Ninth Air Force Transport Group.
It was here that a boogie-woogie piano playing flight nurse named Jeanne Brown caught his eye. On June 5, 1944, Chris proposed to Jeanne.
At midnight he piloted Waco GC-4A glider #13 to the Normandy Peninsula during Operation Overlord at the Battle of Normandy, carrying troopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions with their equipment to landing areas behind enemy lines.
He returned six days later to Aldermaston, then on September 17 he flew glider No. 1 over Eindhoven, Holland, for Operation Market Garden.
After the war and back in the States, Chris and Jeanne were married and enjoyed over sixty years together until separated by Jeanne's death at age 84 in 2005.
Tours of duty after WWll included Shemya, Alaska, Taiwan and the Philippines.
With over twenty years of service to his country, Chris retired with the rank of Major at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois but was soon recruited by RCA as a security manager for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (the DEW Line) in Alaska.
Four years later he became employment manager for RCA in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Finally, in 1972, Chris and Jeanne packed up and drove to Grass Valley, California, in the Sierra foothills until moving to Idaho in 2005. In Grass Valley they purchased a 100 year old house and he completely revitalized it. Chris was quite a carpenter, and both he and Jeanne loved to "pick" for antiques, and collect Native American rugs from Canyon de Chelly, New Mexico and Crownpoint, Arizona.
Chris is survived by daughters Christine Vergoglini of Kootenai, Carolyn (and Dennis) O'Connor of Sandpoint, and Connie (and Brad) Holifield of Bonners Ferry; grandchildren Joanne Kopsick, Guy, Rocco and Genaro Vergoglini of New Jersey, Jeanne and John Holifield of Alaska; sister Delores Jean (and Ken) Ewing of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and brother Frank (and Ruth) Falwell of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; many nephews and nieces ... Kathie, Sherry and Suzie were especially dear.
Chris was preceded in death by his beloved wife Jeanne, his grandson Harlan Felton, his parents, his brother Bill and sisters Louise and Dorothy.
Many, many thanks to those caregivers who eased Chris' last months and blessed his family as well — Jeff, Rexcene, Linda, Cherilyn, Bonner Community Hospice, and Dr. Frasier King, along with many friends and neighbors.
Chris was a very private, hardworking man, and a good communicator; he had a profound sense of duty to his family and his country.