George E. West, 90, passed away October 26th in Shawnee Kansas. Born Feb 11th 1930 in Carmi, Illinois, the only child of Delbert Ray and Ada Belle Henson Ray. He attended school in Chicago, graduating from Lane Technical High School in January 1948. He changed his name to that of his step-father Willard W. West in 1945.
He served in the U.S. Navy as Aviation Electrician and Instrument Specialist during the Berlin air lift and Korean conflict from 1948 to 1952. He was assigned to Air Transport Squadron VR3. His final duty station was Moffet Field, Sunnyvale, CA.
Upon discharge, he went to work at Carmi, for Illinois Commercial Telephone Company which later became GTE then Verizon. Mr. West started as a telephone installer and ended his career in December 1988 as Project Manager for SIU at Carbondale Illinois. He held positions of Equipment Installer, Eastern and Southern Division Equipment Supervisor, Division Traffic Manager at Jacksonville and Marion, Bloomington District Plant Supervisor and Switching Services Supervisor-Project Coordinator- Carbondale. He served the telephone industry for over 36 years.
In June 1957 , Mr West married Phyllis Carol Welker in Springfield, Illinois. They have two sons Jeff of Springfield, Illinois and Jim who resides in Olathe, Kansas with his wife Deborah and sons Jacob and Michael.
Preceding Mr. West in death are his father Delbert Ray, mother Ada B Henson West and step father Willard W. West.
Catholic Mass will be at St Paul Catholic Church in Olathe Nov. 21st 10 am.
In lieu of flowers, donations to St Paul Catholic Church is suggested.
