Glen Grazier’s e-mail signature read, “Old pilots never die -- they just fly away.” Glen departed this earth, surrounded by family and friends, on Jan. 7, 2006.
Glen was born June 2, 1914, in a tarpaper shack in Clear Lake, Mont., and grew up in Dixon, Mont. His lifelong passion for flying was sparked when he and his classmates watched with excitement as a large biplane landed in a field outside their elementary school.
Glen received his transport pilot license at the tender age of 22. He founded Grazier Flying Service in Great Falls, Mont., in 1938 and later established a civilian pilot training program for the U.S. government. He met his wife, the former Alida Cody, at a dance in 1940. They married five months later -- a union that would last 65 years.
He was commissioned by the U.S. Air Force in 1942 and, while based in India, flew gasoline, bombs and other supplies to Allied forces in the China-Burma Theater during World War II. He was honorably discharged as a captain in 1945.
After the war, Glen founded another flying service in Livingston, Mont. He founded another flight school in Malta, Mont., before moving to Burien in 1945, where he went to work for The Boeing Co. as a machinist and mathematics instructor.
Glen, a lifelong learner, never tired in his pursuit of knowledge. He was immersed in topics as eclectic as Ham radio operation, photography, Japanese bamboo, gardening, baking homemade sourdough bread, automobiles and airplanes of all kinds. He enjoyed entertaining at his home, where he would regale friends and family with tales of colorful exploits from his days in the cockpit.
Glen was also known as “Mr. Fix It” to neighborhood children who brought bikes and broken toys to his home, secure in the knowledge that Glen could fix just about anything.
Glen is survived by his loving wife, Alida; three daughters, Donna Bridwell and her husband, Bill, Glory Corbett and her husband, Ron, and Diane Irvin and her husband, Richard; eight grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews, and devoted friends.
Services were held Jan. 9, and friends are encouraged to leave a message at his online memorial guest book www.bonneywatson.com.
