Merle Musson
1920-2009

Merle D. Musson died on Dec. 1, 2009, at his home, from complications of stroke and prostate cancer. He was born on May 5, 1920, in a farmhouse by Sadorus, Ill., to Hayden Merle Musson and Lela Martin, the first of their three children. To this day, descendants of John Henry Musson and Laura Mamie Thompson (Merle's grandparents) still farm in central Illinois.
After graduation from Champaign High School he married and started a family with his first wife, Bette, but volunteered for the Army Air Corps when it was opened up to non-college graduates after the Pearl Harbor bombing. He graduated as a Second Lieutenant pilot on Dec. 13, 1942, from Foster Field in Victoria, Texas. He then entered Central Instructors School there and graduated as a single engine instructor on Jan. 15, 1943. He eventually became a single engine advanced instructor, flying the AT-6, and Squadron Commander, at Eagle Pass, Texas. Towards the end of World War II, training command was stripped of its senior instructors for B-29 flight school in Colorado. Merle transitioned through multi-engine training and graduated as a B-29 pilot in 1945. He was about to be shipped out to the South Pacific Theater when Japan surrendered.
Unable to find work as a pilot, Merle and his family traveled back to Illinois. Merle attended the University of Illinois, College of Electrical Engineering, Champaign-Urbana Campus for a while, but went back to his first love, farming, to support his family. During this time he maintained his multi-engine/commercial rating as a pilot, only relinquishing it when he reached his 60s.
Merle farmed with his father in Champaign County, Ill., and eventually bought a farm near Oelwein, Iowa. There he taught himself how to play golf, which remained his lifelong passion along with flying. He was able to indulge both when he was contacted to fly prospective landowners to the Theodosia Hills Airport and Golf Course back in the early 1970s. When the flying job fell through he had already fallen in love with the area and bought property in Holiday Hills. There he built an A-frame cabin behind Fort Cook.
After retiring from the University of Illinois, College of Agriculture, Department of Plant Pathology, where he worked for Dr. Arthur Hooker in corn research, he and his second wife, Lucie Ackley, bought and operated Thunder Bay Resort in Isabella. While there, they built Experimental Aircrafts Vari-Eze N76LM and Cozy N86LM, which they flew extensively in this area. He and Lucie were active for many years in the Experimental Aircraft Association, Chapter 775, in Mountain Home, Ark.
Merle finally retired from flying in 1995 and became a full time golfer at the Theodosia Golf Course, even helping to close the old airport runway. He now joins his old golfing buddies Del Danielson, Bob Larson, Jim Henderson, Joe and Todd Nash, John Zook, and Sport, Merle's faithful canine companion, on the Front Nine.
Merle was predeceased by his parents, his only son Steve, and his sisters Marjorie and Jeaneice.
He is survived by his wife of over 33 years, Lucie, and faithful animal companions Sienna Boots and Soble; two daughters, Judy and Linda; favorite granddaughter, Jennifer, husband Billy and their child Mackenzie, Sioux City, Iowa; favorite nieces, Joanne, husband Jerry, of Flagstaff, Ariz., and Cheri, husband Allan, of Eureka Springs, Ark.; the Matriarch of the Annual Musson Family Reunion, Rita Ryan Musson, of Sadorus, Ill.; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
A graveside service will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, December 18, 2009 at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Springfield, with military honors, under the direction of Clinkingbeard Funeral Home.
Memorials may be made to Merle's favorite place to eat, the Ozark County Senior Center, PO Box 122, Gainesville, MO 65655.
Another one of the greatest generation is gone.