Rodney was born on the 31st of August 1920 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He moved to Houston as a young child with his parents Guy and Hazle Nevitt, and older brother William R. Nevitt (Bill). There he attended Montrose Grammar School, Lanier Junior High School, and San Jacinto Senior High School.
Rodney was a cadet at Virginia Military Institute until being accepted into Army Air Corps Flight School, where he was in training when the attack on Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of the Pacific war occurred. After being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1942, he joined the 73rd Bomb Squadron of the 28th Composite Group, 11th Air Force, in Anchorage, Alaska. Rodney flew 33 combat missions as pilot or co-pilot in the Aleutian Islands area—flying from such bases as Cold Bay, Umnak, Kodiak, and Adak—in B-26 Martin Marauders and Mitchell B-25s. Later in the war, Rodney volunteered for a second combat tour with the 5th Air Force, and was assigned to the 71st Bomb Squadron of the 38th Bomb Group—the famed “Sunsetters”—in 1944. From bases in Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies, Tacloban and Luzon in the Philippines, and Okinawa, Rodney piloted B-25 missions that hit targets in New Guinea, Borneo, the Philippines, Formosa, Okinawa, and throughout the western Pacific, including Hainan Island and the China coast, the Korean coast, and the region around Kyushu, Japan. Rodney was named Commander of the 71st Bomb Squadron, known as the “Wolf Pack”, and by war’s end had flown an additional 34 combat missions. He was recalled to active duty in 1950 during the Korean conflict and was discharged again in 1954 as a Lt. Colonel. Rodney holds the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Campaign Medal with Ten Battle Stars, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Theater Campaign Medal, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Bronze Star, the Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal. After his military service, Rodney worked for Spaw-Glass Construction Company and Fluor Ocean Services. He was an active and devoted member of the First Presbyterian Church of Houston, serving as Chairman of the Board of Deacons and as an Elder.
On the 3rd of August 1946, Rodney married Flora McIver Clarke, his beloved “Tattens” (or “Tata”). They built their house on Pine Shadows Rd. in 1952, joyfully greeted the birth of their son, Rod, Jr., in 1959, and enjoyed fifty-six years of marriage until Flora’s death in 2002. Shortly thereafter Rodney moved to The Hallmark retirement community, where he lived for some ten years, surrounded by many dear friends that he had known since childhood. In 2014, he moved home to be with his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Rodney lived his life in service to God and to his fellow man, for whom he put his life on the line many times. He was a deeply loving husband, father, and grandfather, a great gentleman and an attentive friend to many. He has enriched our lives beyond measure, and we will treasure his memory.
Rod and his wife Jo Ann extend their heartfelt thanks to all those who cared for Rodney during his later years: to the staff and caregivers at The Hallmark, at Houston Hospice, and to Mary Ramirez and her wonderful team of caregivers at their home, who have become their extended family. Rod and Jo Ann look back to those remarkable years when they had one or both of their fathers living with them (Jo Ann’s beloved dad, Joe Mikula, passed away earlier this year at age 93) as an era of rich blessings for their entire family.
Rodney is preceded in death by his wife Flora, his brother Bill, sisters-in-law Anne Lawton Eisenhart and Nell Clarke Frost his, nephew James C. Frost, and Flora's cousin Dr. Thomas James Lawhon. Rodney is survived by his son Rod, Jr., his daughter-in-law Jo Ann, and his grandchildren Allie and Andy. He is also survived by his brother Bill’s children—Anne Nevitt Hill and her husband Yerger, William R. Nevitt, Jr. and his wife Susan, Amanda Nevitt, and their children and families—as well as Flora’s family members Estelle Dunn, Jane Joplin and her husband Bill, and Anne Harrington, together with their families, and Elizabeth Frost and her daughters Katherine and Susan.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from six until eight o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 13th of November, in the drawing room of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
An interment is to be conducted at eleven o’clock in the morning on Friday, the 14th of November, at Glenwood Cemetery, 2525 Washington Avenue in Houston.
A memorial service is to be conducted at half-past noon on Friday, the 14th of November, in the chapel of First Presbyterian Church, 5300 Main St., where Dr. Bill Heston, Executive Pastor, is to officiate. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the nearby Living Room.
In lieu of customary remembrances, and for those desiring, contributions in Rodney’s memory may be directed to a Veterans’ association of your choice, First Presbyterian Church of Houston, 5300 Main St, Houston, TX 77004; or to any charitable institution.
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