More detail on this person: Wallace R.
Buelow
Posted 2011-01-13 by Sharla
The White Mountain Independent, Show Low,
Arizona ~ March 12, 2009
Wallace R. Buelow, 91, died Monday, March 9,
2009, at RTA Hospice and Palliative Care in
Lakeside. He was born in Shelby, Neb., Feb. 15,
1918, to the late Richard T. and Minnie Caroline
(Goetz) Buelow.
At age 12 he moved with his family to Atwood, Kan.
He considered Atwood to be his hometown.
Upon graduating at the head of his high school
class, he studied chemical engineering at Iowa
State University from 1936 to 1941. However,
before he could finish his course of study, he was
called to active duty in the U.S. Army.
Shortly after, with World War II very much on
their minds, he met and soon married Betty Jean
Graham of Colorado Springs, Colo. They had three
children, John Peter of Carrollton, Va., Richard
of Bountiful, Utah, and Jackie Kojimoto, also of
Bountiful; three grandchildren; niece Sue Stibbe
of Tucson; and three stepgrandchildren.
Wallace served as a paratrooper during WWII. He
parachuted into Southern France and later fought
in the Battle of the Bulge.
After returning to the United States, he was
assigned to Fairbanks, Alaska, and spent the
winter testing parachute equipment in the extreme
cold.
He served three years with the army of occupation
in Germany and after attending the Command and
General Staff College, was assigned to the
Pentagon as chief of army scientific
intelligence.
Upon leaving the Pentagon, he served as a
logistics officer in Korea and commanded a field
artillery battalion at Fort Carson, Colo. He
attended the Army War College and simultaneously
attended the George Washington University where
he earned a master's degree in international
affairs.
After attending the Army Aviation School, he was
assigned to Fort Rucker, Ala., for three years,
where he gained aviation experience and then was
assigned to Vietnam, where he was deputy army
aviation officer.
His last assignment was as chief of staff of the
Army Aviation Systems Command in St. Louis.
Among his awards are the Legion of Merit, Bronze
Star Medal, Air Medal and Army Commendation
Medal.
Col. Buelow retired after 31 years of active duty
from the U.S. Army in 1972. He and Betty moved to
Albuquerque, N.M., and two years later they came
to Arizona where he has since resided.
He worked for H&R Block for 10 years in Tucson.
He also volunteered income tax help for five
years, since moving to Show Low in 1984.
In 1991, he was preceded in death by Betty, his
wife of 49 years. He was also preceded in death by
his beloved sister, Madge and her husband, Harold
Stibbe.
As a bachelor, he continued to travel extensively,
including a trip to Antarctica and later, landing
on the ice at the North Pole.
In 1999 he married Janet Myers of Show Low. Their
honeymoon was a trip to the upper Amazon River,
and they continued to travel extensively until
illness made travel difficult.
This marriage enlarged his family by five
stepchildren, six stepgrandchildren and seven
stepgreat-grandchildren.
Wallace was a devout longtime Episcopalian. Since
1984, he was a very active member of the Church of
Our Saviour in Lakeside.
There will be a Requiem Mass, with full military
honors at the Church of Our Saviour beginning 1
p.m., Saturday, March 14.
In lieu of flowers at his request, Wallace
suggested that contributions be made to the
Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, 5147 Show Low
Lake Road, Lakeside, AZ 85929.
Owens Livingston Mortuary-White Mountain Chapel
handled arrangements.
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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