Houston Chronicle (TX) - Thursday, June 5, 2008
Deceased Name: Willis Earl Eastabrooks
TX United States
WILLIS EARL EASTABROOKS, 74, died on June 2, 2008 while doing what he loved to do: flying an airplane. Earl was born on July 31, 1933 in Lexington, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He was in the United States Air Force for 26 years. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Upon retiring from the Air Force in 1981, Earl started a second career as a contractor at Johnson Space Center as a shuttle simulator instructor. Earl was preceded in death by his parents, Mildred and Otto Eastabrooks. He is survived by his wife of forty-nine years, Dorothy, his son Phillip Eastabrooks, his daughter Tana Reeve and her husband Stephen, his granddaughter Samantha Reeve, his grandson Christopher Reeve, his sister Mary Burgoon and numerous nieces and nephews. There will be a memorial service at 1:00 pm Friday, June 6, 2008 at Clear Lake United Methodist Church, 16335 El Camino Real, Houston, TX 77062. Interment will be at 10:00 am on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at Forest Park Lawndale, 6900 Lawndale Avenue. For those desiring, in lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to Clear Lake United Methodist Church or to the charity of their choice.
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Houston Chronicle (TX) - Friday, June 6, 2008
Deceased Name: OBITUARY Eastabrooks, teacher of NASA astronauts Navigator flew his own airplane for over 40 years
Willis Earl Eastabrooks survived being shot down over Vietnam to have a second career teaching NASA astronauts to fly the space shuttle. He was killed Monday in the crash of a small home-built aircraft near LaPorte. He was 74.
"It was what he loved to do," his son, Phillip Eastabrooks, said. "He loved to fly."
He was born on July 31, 1933, in Lexington, Mo., and grew up in the small towns of Battie and Troy, Kan., his wife, Dorothy Eastabrooks, said. To make money to earn an electrical engineering degree from the University of Kansas, he worked summers in a hardware store fixing washing machines and delivering butane to farmers.
After college, he worked briefly for Boeing before joining the U.S. Air Force.
While in navigator school at Houston's Ellington Field in 1957, he met his future bride at a YWCA dance. They married the next year.
He became a navigator on B-47 bombers, his wife said, often serving on missions that included trips to air bases all over the world. In 1966, he became a navigator on B-57 Canberra bombers and was sent to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
The Air Force had two squadrons of the bombers and rotated them between Clark and Vietnam, said a squadron mate, Bill Fink.
Flying over danger
In 1966, Eastabrooks earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for guiding his plane down through monsoon rain clouds between mountaintops on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an extremely dangerous maneuver, Fink said.
The next summer, Eastabrooks and his pilot were in the Mekong Delta flying a mission to support ground troops when something hit his airplane, Fink said. "He just said he heard a big bang, and the cockpit started filling up with smoke."
Eastabrooks ejected from the plane and landed in a rice paddy, suffering a leg injury. Helicopter crew members rescued him and recovered the body of the pilot.
In 1981, Eastabrooks retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel. The family moved to Houston, and he began a second career teaching communications to space shuttle crew members. He later became a lead instructor on the shuttle flight simulator.
A longtime private pilot, he flew and maintained his own four-seat airplane for more than 40 years, his son said.
Final flight
Just after 2 p.m. Monday, he took off from La Porte Municipal Airport with Sam Brunson of Natchitoches, La., in a friend's home-built airplane. Brunson was interested in buying the plane. About six minutes later, it crashed and burned, killing both men.
Officials have not yet determined what caused the crash or which man was piloting the plane.
Eastabrooks is survived by his wife and son, both of Houston, daughter Tana Reeve of Austin, sister, Mary Burgoon of Kansas and two grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Clear Lake United Methodist Church. Interment will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Forest Park Lawndale.
Deceased Name: Willis Earl Eastabrooks
TX United States
WILLIS EARL EASTABROOKS, 74, died on June 2, 2008 while doing what he loved to do: flying an airplane. Earl was born on July 31, 1933 in Lexington, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He was in the United States Air Force for 26 years. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Upon retiring from the Air Force in 1981, Earl started a second career as a contractor at Johnson Space Center as a shuttle simulator instructor. Earl was preceded in death by his parents, Mildred and Otto Eastabrooks. He is survived by his wife of forty-nine years, Dorothy, his son Phillip Eastabrooks, his daughter Tana Reeve and her husband Stephen, his granddaughter Samantha Reeve, his grandson Christopher Reeve, his sister Mary Burgoon and numerous nieces and nephews. There will be a memorial service at 1:00 pm Friday, June 6, 2008 at Clear Lake United Methodist Church, 16335 El Camino Real, Houston, TX 77062. Interment will be at 10:00 am on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at Forest Park Lawndale, 6900 Lawndale Avenue. For those desiring, in lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to Clear Lake United Methodist Church or to the charity of their choice.
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Houston Chronicle (TX) - Friday, June 6, 2008
Deceased Name: OBITUARY Eastabrooks, teacher of NASA astronauts Navigator flew his own airplane for over 40 years
Willis Earl Eastabrooks survived being shot down over Vietnam to have a second career teaching NASA astronauts to fly the space shuttle. He was killed Monday in the crash of a small home-built aircraft near LaPorte. He was 74.
"It was what he loved to do," his son, Phillip Eastabrooks, said. "He loved to fly."
He was born on July 31, 1933, in Lexington, Mo., and grew up in the small towns of Battie and Troy, Kan., his wife, Dorothy Eastabrooks, said. To make money to earn an electrical engineering degree from the University of Kansas, he worked summers in a hardware store fixing washing machines and delivering butane to farmers.
After college, he worked briefly for Boeing before joining the U.S. Air Force.
While in navigator school at Houston's Ellington Field in 1957, he met his future bride at a YWCA dance. They married the next year.
He became a navigator on B-47 bombers, his wife said, often serving on missions that included trips to air bases all over the world. In 1966, he became a navigator on B-57 Canberra bombers and was sent to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
The Air Force had two squadrons of the bombers and rotated them between Clark and Vietnam, said a squadron mate, Bill Fink.
Flying over danger
In 1966, Eastabrooks earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for guiding his plane down through monsoon rain clouds between mountaintops on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an extremely dangerous maneuver, Fink said.
The next summer, Eastabrooks and his pilot were in the Mekong Delta flying a mission to support ground troops when something hit his airplane, Fink said. "He just said he heard a big bang, and the cockpit started filling up with smoke."
Eastabrooks ejected from the plane and landed in a rice paddy, suffering a leg injury. Helicopter crew members rescued him and recovered the body of the pilot.
In 1981, Eastabrooks retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel. The family moved to Houston, and he began a second career teaching communications to space shuttle crew members. He later became a lead instructor on the shuttle flight simulator.
A longtime private pilot, he flew and maintained his own four-seat airplane for more than 40 years, his son said.
Final flight
Just after 2 p.m. Monday, he took off from La Porte Municipal Airport with Sam Brunson of Natchitoches, La., in a friend's home-built airplane. Brunson was interested in buying the plane. About six minutes later, it crashed and burned, killing both men.
Officials have not yet determined what caused the crash or which man was piloting the plane.
Eastabrooks is survived by his wife and son, both of Houston, daughter Tana Reeve of Austin, sister, Mary Burgoon of Kansas and two grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Clear Lake United Methodist Church. Interment will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Forest Park Lawndale.
Houston Chronicle (TX) - Thursday, June 5, 2008
Deceased Name: Willis Earl Eastabrooks
TX United States
WILLIS EARL EASTABROOKS, 74, died on June 2, 2008 while doing what he loved to do: flying an airplane. Earl was born on July 31, 1933 in Lexington, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He was in the United States Air Force for 26 years. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Upon retiring from the Air Force in 1981, Earl started a second career as a contractor at Johnson Space Center as a shuttle simulator instructor. Earl was preceded in death by his parents, Mildred and Otto Eastabrooks. He is survived by his wife of forty-nine years, Dorothy, his son Phillip Eastabrooks, his daughter Tana Reeve and her husband Stephen, his granddaughter Samantha Reeve, his grandson Christopher Reeve, his sister Mary Burgoon and numerous nieces and nephews. There will be a memorial service at 1:00 pm Friday, June 6, 2008 at Clear Lake United Methodist Church, 16335 El Camino Real, Houston, TX 77062. Interment will be at 10:00 am on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at Forest Park Lawndale, 6900 Lawndale Avenue. For those desiring, in lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to Clear Lake United Methodist Church or to the charity of their choice.
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Houston Chronicle (TX) - Friday, June 6, 2008
Deceased Name: OBITUARY Eastabrooks, teacher of NASA astronauts Navigator flew his own airplane for over 40 years
Willis Earl Eastabrooks survived being shot down over Vietnam to have a second career teaching NASA astronauts to fly the space shuttle. He was killed Monday in the crash of a small home-built aircraft near LaPorte. He was 74.
"It was what he loved to do," his son, Phillip Eastabrooks, said. "He loved to fly."
He was born on July 31, 1933, in Lexington, Mo., and grew up in the small towns of Battie and Troy, Kan., his wife, Dorothy Eastabrooks, said. To make money to earn an electrical engineering degree from the University of Kansas, he worked summers in a hardware store fixing washing machines and delivering butane to farmers.
After college, he worked briefly for Boeing before joining the U.S. Air Force.
While in navigator school at Houston's Ellington Field in 1957, he met his future bride at a YWCA dance. They married the next year.
He became a navigator on B-47 bombers, his wife said, often serving on missions that included trips to air bases all over the world. In 1966, he became a navigator on B-57 Canberra bombers and was sent to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
The Air Force had two squadrons of the bombers and rotated them between Clark and Vietnam, said a squadron mate, Bill Fink.
Flying over danger
In 1966, Eastabrooks earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for guiding his plane down through monsoon rain clouds between mountaintops on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an extremely dangerous maneuver, Fink said.
The next summer, Eastabrooks and his pilot were in the Mekong Delta flying a mission to support ground troops when something hit his airplane, Fink said. "He just said he heard a big bang, and the cockpit started filling up with smoke."
Eastabrooks ejected from the plane and landed in a rice paddy, suffering a leg injury. Helicopter crew members rescued him and recovered the body of the pilot.
In 1981, Eastabrooks retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel. The family moved to Houston, and he began a second career teaching communications to space shuttle crew members. He later became a lead instructor on the shuttle flight simulator.
A longtime private pilot, he flew and maintained his own four-seat airplane for more than 40 years, his son said.
Final flight
Just after 2 p.m. Monday, he took off from La Porte Municipal Airport with Sam Brunson of Natchitoches, La., in a friend's home-built airplane. Brunson was interested in buying the plane. About six minutes later, it crashed and burned, killing both men.
Officials have not yet determined what caused the crash or which man was piloting the plane.
Eastabrooks is survived by his wife and son, both of Houston, daughter Tana Reeve of Austin, sister, Mary Burgoon of Kansas and two grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Clear Lake United Methodist Church. Interment will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Forest Park Lawndale.
Deceased Name: Willis Earl Eastabrooks
TX United States
WILLIS EARL EASTABROOKS, 74, died on June 2, 2008 while doing what he loved to do: flying an airplane. Earl was born on July 31, 1933 in Lexington, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He was in the United States Air Force for 26 years. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Upon retiring from the Air Force in 1981, Earl started a second career as a contractor at Johnson Space Center as a shuttle simulator instructor. Earl was preceded in death by his parents, Mildred and Otto Eastabrooks. He is survived by his wife of forty-nine years, Dorothy, his son Phillip Eastabrooks, his daughter Tana Reeve and her husband Stephen, his granddaughter Samantha Reeve, his grandson Christopher Reeve, his sister Mary Burgoon and numerous nieces and nephews. There will be a memorial service at 1:00 pm Friday, June 6, 2008 at Clear Lake United Methodist Church, 16335 El Camino Real, Houston, TX 77062. Interment will be at 10:00 am on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at Forest Park Lawndale, 6900 Lawndale Avenue. For those desiring, in lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to Clear Lake United Methodist Church or to the charity of their choice.
++++++++++++
Houston Chronicle (TX) - Friday, June 6, 2008
Deceased Name: OBITUARY Eastabrooks, teacher of NASA astronauts Navigator flew his own airplane for over 40 years
Willis Earl Eastabrooks survived being shot down over Vietnam to have a second career teaching NASA astronauts to fly the space shuttle. He was killed Monday in the crash of a small home-built aircraft near LaPorte. He was 74.
"It was what he loved to do," his son, Phillip Eastabrooks, said. "He loved to fly."
He was born on July 31, 1933, in Lexington, Mo., and grew up in the small towns of Battie and Troy, Kan., his wife, Dorothy Eastabrooks, said. To make money to earn an electrical engineering degree from the University of Kansas, he worked summers in a hardware store fixing washing machines and delivering butane to farmers.
After college, he worked briefly for Boeing before joining the U.S. Air Force.
While in navigator school at Houston's Ellington Field in 1957, he met his future bride at a YWCA dance. They married the next year.
He became a navigator on B-47 bombers, his wife said, often serving on missions that included trips to air bases all over the world. In 1966, he became a navigator on B-57 Canberra bombers and was sent to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
The Air Force had two squadrons of the bombers and rotated them between Clark and Vietnam, said a squadron mate, Bill Fink.
Flying over danger
In 1966, Eastabrooks earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for guiding his plane down through monsoon rain clouds between mountaintops on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an extremely dangerous maneuver, Fink said.
The next summer, Eastabrooks and his pilot were in the Mekong Delta flying a mission to support ground troops when something hit his airplane, Fink said. "He just said he heard a big bang, and the cockpit started filling up with smoke."
Eastabrooks ejected from the plane and landed in a rice paddy, suffering a leg injury. Helicopter crew members rescued him and recovered the body of the pilot.
In 1981, Eastabrooks retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel. The family moved to Houston, and he began a second career teaching communications to space shuttle crew members. He later became a lead instructor on the shuttle flight simulator.
A longtime private pilot, he flew and maintained his own four-seat airplane for more than 40 years, his son said.
Final flight
Just after 2 p.m. Monday, he took off from La Porte Municipal Airport with Sam Brunson of Natchitoches, La., in a friend's home-built airplane. Brunson was interested in buying the plane. About six minutes later, it crashed and burned, killing both men.
Officials have not yet determined what caused the crash or which man was piloting the plane.
Eastabrooks is survived by his wife and son, both of Houston, daughter Tana Reeve of Austin, sister, Mary Burgoon of Kansas and two grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Clear Lake United Methodist Church. Interment will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Forest Park Lawndale.
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