Thursday, May 2, 2024
Verne L. Lietz
June 22, 1923-June 9, 2023
Verne Laurenz Lietz left this life on 9 June, at 99 years old at the home of his daughter and son- in- law, Susan and Bob Cole of Stanwood, WA. Born June 22, 1923, in Minneapolis Minnesota to Irving and Felicia Lietz, he survived the Great Depression which greatly influenced his entire lifetime. Saving money, fixing anything that could be fixed, and making do were all part of his makeup.
He left home at 17 to live in Tacoma, Washington with his aunt Lestie and her family. He graduated from Stadium High School in Tacoma in 1941 and after graduation enlisted in the US Army Air Force in 1942 as a Private and served in World War II in India as a machine gun repairman. After WWII, he received a degree in gunsmithing at Trinidad State Junior College, Colorado, and spent 4 years as a traveling gunsmith working out of a converted school bus (along with his horse and his dog Gizmo). He also succumbed to the call of the wild blue yonder and started taking pilot lessons. He then re-enlisted in the US Air Force for pilot training in Texas.
Soon after gaining his wings, he married Helen Andrew in Minneapolis in 1951. They lived in Texas and in Colorado where they were blessed with daughter Susan Helen (Cole) and where Verne served as a flying instructor in the T-28 “Texan” during the Korean War. They were then transferred to Kaufbeuren AFB in Germany where Verne served as a Commissary Officer and Verne and Helen had their second daughter, Marilynn Kay. Next stationed at Little Rock AFB, Verne commuted via private plane to college to gain his Bachelor of Arts in Education. The girls were joined by baby brother Terry Irving. Verne dug a bomb shelter in the back yard during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Moving next to Dover AFB in Dover, Delaware, the family enjoyed watching the B-52s taking off on alerts from the back of the old Ford Taurus station wagon. In Dover and later at Minot AFB, Verne served as an Armament-Electronic Maintenance Supervisor for a wing of B-52s and KC-135s. In Minot the Lietz family made the front page of the Minot newspaper after saving Terry and Verne (who jumped in to save him) from drowning after falling through the ice on the Darling River while ice fishing.
After retiring from the USAF in 1966 as a Major, Verne finished his Master’s degree in Education from the University of Maryland while the family lived in a pasture in the truck camper! Settling in Peshastin, Washington he joined the faculty of Leavenworth High School where he taught history, social studies, journalism, and aircraft construction from 1968 to 1982. His classes built a Volkswagen-powered two place RAND KR-2 (Experimental Aircraft). He was President of the Wenatchee Area Chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association. He also operated a gun repair and sales shop out of their home in Peshastin and ferried airplanes to Alaska.
A lifelong hunter and fisherman, he enjoyed numerous trips to Alaska’s wilderness to include one of his favorites - Scum Lake, Canada. He did fish spotting for commercial fishermen with son Terry. He also made the news in 1979 by flying the smallest plane (a Smith Mini Biplane) on a solo trip back from Alaska. A prolific writer, his articles about flying and gunsmithing were published in Flying Magazine and American Rifleman magazine among others.
Verne was a very involved father for his era. Every weekend the family went fishing, hunting, or boating, often camping out in remote areas. His sense of humor was legend… from wearing a sheet and scaring the kids by jumping out of a bush, skits, and songs around a campfire with his best friend, cousin Ken Jorgenson, to dropping rolls of toilet paper from his plane on the Leavenworth School Board during the teacher’s strike!
He took each of his kids on a major trip in their high school years: Susan to Japan, Marilynn to S. Korea, and Terry to India. He delighted in building snow igloos, doing wood crafts and painting with his grandchildren: Douglas, Bonnie, Lynette, and Scott Cole.
Verne owned many single engine airplanes in his lifetime, crashing four with only minor injuries. He was based at the Cashmere Airport where he had several hangers and developed many friendships. His long-distance trips were epic, as were his misadventures. The family definitely would list the Christmas trip to Minnesota from Arkansas where bad weather had Helen and the girls continuing by train and Verne ending up in trees with the airplane pieces fitting into a trailer. And if he got lost, he would fly low to read town signs on water towers. And his tossing down his notebook in disgust when he and Terry managed to miss Durham, NC and ended up over the Atlantic Ocean! Verne was also legendary for napping and on his last solo flight he fell asleep while piloting on a return from a hunting trip in Montana and “landed” the plane in a soft field.
He strongly believed in the value of an education and passed that on to his children, who all graduated from college and had good (and encouraged) careers: Susan in Health Information Management, Marilynn in Communications with ROTC into the U.S. Army Signal Corp., and Terry in aeronautics becoming a commercial pilot, now a Captain for American Airlines. Verne was so proud to pin Marilynn’s Colonel eagle on, even if she was Army instead of Air Force and now seriously outranked him!
Verne was preceded in death by his granddaughter Bonnie (1989), and wife of 64 years Helen (2016). Besides his children and grandchildren, he is survived by his great-granddaughter Juliana Sullivan. There will be no memorial service and his ashes will be spread by the family via private plane. Please feel free to donate to your local Food Bank or animal rescue association in his name.
