Delmer Mason McConnell

Delmer Mason (Mac) McConnell peacefully went to his Lord on 23 July, 2011, at home with family. A visitation will be held Friday 29 July from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at Baum, Carlock, Bumgardner Funeral Home; the coffin will be draped with a flag flown during Captain Megan McConnell's last air assault mission in Afghanistan and given to her grandfather for his 85th birthday. The service will be Saturday 30 July at 10:00 am in the Baum Carlock Bumgardner Chapel with Rev. Charles Mays officiating. Pallbearers will be; Jud Lively, Jack Lowey, Rodney Butler, John Rollins, Chuck Hogan, and Mike McConnell. Burial with military honors will follow in Woodland Park Cemetery. Mac was born on April 13th 1926 in Cherokee, Oklahoma to Mason Orville and Zola Pauline (Potter) McConnell. He was a proud three-war veteran. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 at the age of 17 and served in the South Pacific Theater during World War II. In September 1950 he joined the Oklahoma National Guard and as a member of "B" Battery, 189th Field Artillery, 45th Infantry Division (Oklahoma National Guard), deployed to Korea in December 1951. It was during the Korean War that he had one of his proudest moments in the Army. In February 1952 Mac received a battlefield commission and promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery. Following his return to the U.S., he was selected for pilot training earning his wings in 1954. He later transitioned to helicopters and earned his rotary-wing rating in 1958. In 1965 he deployed to Viet Nam as an Army helicopter pilot commanding a helicopter maintenance company. Completing that combat tour, he was transferred to Fort Wolters, Texas for duty as a helicopter instructor pilot. On August 31, 1967, Mac transferred to the retired list with more than 20 years of active military service. After his retirement he remained in the aviation business as an instructor for Southern Airways at Fort Wolters, in the oil patch off the coast of Louisiana, in the Quebec province of Canada, and in California before he finally retired for good. Macmoved one more time to Mineral Wells in 1994 where he lived until his death. He was a member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, DAV, National Order of Battlefield Commission, and the Fort Wolters Chapter Viet Nam Helicopter Pilots. Survivors include: wife Nancy (Sanders) McConnell; son Mike and wife Doris McConnell of Mineral Wells; daughters, Cinda and husband Nicky Parenti of Mineral Wells, Jana and husband Danny South of Amarillo; grandson, Nicolaus Parenti of Mineral Wells, granddaughters, Lindsay Parenti of Mineral Wells, Captain Megan McConnell USA of Fort Campbell, Ky., Morgan McConnell of Mineral Wells, and Makayla South of Amarillo; great-grandson Christian Shea of Mineral Wells; sister Dorlene Hutson of Huntsville, Al. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Darrell and son Mason Martin McConnell.