Milton Theodore Hefty Jr's Obituary
Milton T Hefty Jr, age 87, of Tacoma, passed away in the early hours of Monday, November 21, 2016 following an extended illness. He was born August 23, 1929 in Fargo, North Dakota. The son of the late Milton Theodore Sr and the late Myrtle Fedje Hefty, he spent his early years in Walcott, North Dakota. The family moved to Portland, Oregon, where Milt graduated from Jefferson High School.
Milt enjoyed participating in sports, especially football, and was on the Pacific Lutheran College football team during his years there. He graduated from PLC with a degree in Education in 1951, joined the Marine Corps and was sent to Korea. To quote Milt, “I was a ‘grunt’ and after my tour there I smartened up and signed up for flight school!” He was accepted and went to Pensacola, FL, for Navy and Marine Aviation Training.
During his military career Milt attended various schools and was assigned twice to Cherry Point, North Carolina. He also completed two tours in Viet Nam as a fighter pilot, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and Navy air medals. The last jet plane
he flew was the A-6 Intruder. He was also part of a Sharpshooter team while in the service and earned many medals for his efforts, including breaking one long-time record.
Retiring in 1971 as a major, Milt returned to the education field and substituted in math and science classrooms in various school districts in Puget Sound. He also used his talent to build and/or remodel several homes, his own included.
In the autumn Milt could be found hunting game or birds, mainly in Washington and Montana, accompanied by a series of faithful dogs (Smokey, Bandit, Truck or Thor). He was a life member of Pheasants Forever, which promoted developing habitat for birds and training boys and girls to become responsible hunters. For several years grandson Erik accompanied Milt on PF’s Junior Hunt, held at Joint Base Lewis McChord, and afterwards Erik got instruction on how to clean the birds.
Milt delighted in family activities and wore a path on the freeways to watch sports, concerts, Veteran’s Day assemblies and other events in which his grandchildren participated. Another favorite pastime was playing card and board games like
Uno and Quiddler. If you were at the table you knew the competition would be fierce.
One of Milt’s main accomplishments was rebuilding a Mooney airplane. He found the plane body at Clover Park Technical School in Lakewood and worked out a deal with the instructor, where Milt would buy all the parts that were missing and the instructor would hold a class on “How to Build an Airplane.” His greatest find was an engine located in Texas! From what he said, it took the better part of two years for the complete plane to come together.
Previously Milt had rented Cessna planes from the Fort Lewis Flying Club and flown back to the penultimate of shows, the Oshkosh Air Show in Wisconsin. Imagine his joy when he could finally fly his own plane to the event! He made eleven trips to Oshkosh and his wife Camille accompanied him on six of those. Camping gear was stowed in the back of the plane and part of the fun was camping next to the airplane for that week. Thousands of people did this. School busses procured for the event made the rounds and deposited people wherever they needed to go. Historic airplanes were a focal point as well as new
“experimental” aircraft. Milt and Camille had great memories of their trips “back east.”
Milt was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Don, and his daughter Kathy Enselman. He is survived by Camille, his wife of 22 years, and her daughters Carrie Tellefson (Frank Miller and family) and Kristi Gaimster (and children). Also surviving Milt is his brother Jerry (and family), his sister Marilyn Katz (and family), former wife Luella (Vig) Edwards (and family), sons Karl (wife Elena), Peter (wife Vicki and family), daughters Andrea Hefte (and family), Annalise Kaneko (and family) and Kaaren Daugherty (husband Todd and family), and deceased daughter Kathy’s husband Larry Enselman (and family).
Memorial donations may be made to the Christ Lutheran Memorial Fund or to a charity of your choosing.
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