Harry E. Pennington Jr.

Nov. 7, 1920 – Sept. 11, 2004

Harry E. Pennington Jr., 83, of John Day, died Sept. 11 at St. Elizabeth Health Services in Baker City.

A funeral service will be held today, at 5 p.m., Sept. 15 at Driskill Memorial Chapel. A second service will take place in Richmond, Ky., early next week. Disposition will be by vault interment at Richmond Cemetery with full military honors.

Mr. Pennington was born Nov. 7, 1920, to Harry E. and Mary Ellen (Campbell) Pennington in Krypton, Ky., in the mountains near Hazard, Ky.

He entered WWII and was sent to Spokane, Wash., where he worked as a mess hall cook. He later signed up for cadet training and was sent to pilot school in San Antonio, Texas; Uvalde, Texas; San Angelo and Lubbock, Texas.

While in Spokane he went home on leave and married Beulah Neeley, his childhood sweetheart Sept. 19, 1942, in Krypton, Ky in the house where Harry was born and raised.

After graduating, Harry was sent to March Field Air Base in Riverside, Calif., where he was assigned his first crew for his B-24. They were sent to New Guinea to fight the Japanese. Harry’s last brief tour of duty was at Langley Field, Va.

They later moved to the Pennington farm just outside of Berea where Harry taught flying at an airport. They then moved to Richmond where Harry worked at a garage. Later, he and his brother-in-law, Hank decided to move to Vancouver, Wash., to go into the house building business.

Mr. Pennington re-entered the service and the family moved to Kessler Air Base in Biloxi, Miss. Then to Albuquerque, N.M., where Harry trained in special weapons as the Korean War was under way. They then moved to Castle Air Base in Atwater, Calif., and lived there for five or six years.

Captain Pennington went on to move his family several more times to several more Air Bases and he worked Strategic Air Command, then flew the KC-135 refeuler jet. In 1965 he was sent to Okinawa to refuel B-52 bombers over the China Sea during the Vietnam War.

Lt. Colonel Pennington retired and his wife moved to Tidewater. After numerous more moves to towns in Ohio, Florida, Oregon and Tennessee, they moved back to Oregon in 1994 when they moved to John Day.

Survivors include his wife, Beulah; two daughters, Linda O’Connor of Nashotah, Wisc., and Judy Grubbs of John Day; one son, Harry of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.; six grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, five sisters, four brothers, one grandson and one great-granddaughter.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Alzheimer’s Association through Driskill Memorial Chapel, 241 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845.