Paul Steven Hungerford

Paul was born in Hollywood, CA and grew up in the Antelope Valley town of Lancaster, CA where his father worked at nearby Edwards AFB. His parents, Alma and W. M. Hungerford, predeceased him and he is survived by his wife Emily Price Hungerford, son John Steven, brother Jeffery M. Hungerford and his wife Pam of Park Ridge, IL.

Paul graduated from the Univ. of Kansas with a B.S. Degree in Aerospace Engineering and later received his Master’s from Webster College. He served in the Air Force from 1973-1979 as a Captain flying C-130s and was based at Clark Air Base (21st TAS) in the Philippines and Pope Air Base (40th TAS) in Fayetteville, NC. In April of 1975, amid tracer fire, Paul flew evacuation flights out of Ton Son Nhut AB in Saigon, Vietnam. He also later flew the Vietnamese refugees from the Philippines to Guam. In 1979, Paul flew from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey into small dirt strips carrying in supplies and evacuating both civilian and military personnel from remote areas of Iran as well as Tehran, Iran. This occurred after the fall of the Shah, when Americans were being held hostage. Stateside, Paul flew C-130 missions to drop the Army 82nd Airborne, Army Special Forces, Army Delta Forces, new paratrooper students at Ft. Benning, GA, Navy Seals, and at numerous air shows, the Army Golden Knights. A highlight was flying in formation with Art Scholl at the Atlantic City Air Show.

For the next 28 years, Paul continued his aviation career beginning with flying DC-9s for Texas International Airlines and continuing after mergers with Continental Airlines now United. Paul became a Captain in 1984 and Emily joyfully went with him on his maiden flight to Orlando, FL. During a furlough, Paul worked at Houston Center for the FAA as a flight data specialist followed by working at NASA for McDonnell Douglas as an engineer on the STS-4 shuttle program. While at Continental, he flew DC-9s, MD-80s, 757s, 767s, and 777s and served as a check airman for 7 years. His family loved and admired him for putting safety first and Paul was a consummate professional.

Paul enthusiastically served as an Assistant Scoutmaster, Woodbadge trained, with Troop 214 in Raleigh and enjoyed going on many troop trips with his son John. After his illness grounded him in 2007, Paul joined the Capital City Camera Club and enjoyed taking photos for Preservation NC.

A memorial service will be held at 2 pm at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary's St., Raleigh, on Saturday, February 1, 2014. A reception will follow the memorial service at Brown-Wynne.

The family expresses sincere gratitude to Dr. Susan Moore and the caring staff at the Rex Cancer Center. Memorial contributions may be made to Rex Healthcare Foundation, 2500 Blue Ridge Rd, Suite 325, Raleigh, NC 27607.