Ross James Van Kempema

Ross James Van Kempema

November 20, 1921 – September 1, 2016

Ross James Van Kempema passed on September 1, 2016. A member of the Greatest Generation, Ross was born on November 20, 1921 in Chicago IL. He grew up during the Great Depression and experienced all of the trials, tribulations and joys of childhood during that time.

A life changing experience at age ten set the stage for a career as a pilot. He and a childhood friend paid one-dollar each for a 15-minute flight in a Curtiss Jenny biplane flown by a barnstormer at the old Navy Pier in Chicago.

Following graduation from Fenger H.S. in Chicago in 1938, Ross attended Parks College of Aviation in East St. Louis, IL. After graduating from Parks, Ross briefly worked for TWA Airlines before enlisting in the Army Air Corps where he spent the next few years training young recruits to fly.

On August 9, 1944, Ross married his high school sweetheart, Vera Hanson. Shortly after they were married Ross joined his unit and left for combat training in England. Ross flew combat missions in France and Germany in his beloved P-47 Thunderbolt fighter, earning his membership in the Greatest Generation. At the end of the war, Ross left the Army Air Corp as a Lt Colonial.

After Ross returned home he continued to fly for airlines and as the chief pilot for Harry Sinclair the founder of Sinclair Oil in Independence, Kansas. Ross and Vera loved the ocean and when they retired in 1977 they move to the coast of Florida to be on the water. They spent the next forty years in Florida, spending up to six months motoring or sailing from the dock in their back yard in Florida to Maine or into the Great Lakes, taking their grandchildren on vacations on the water. Ross and Vera were married for nearly 70 years when she passed away in 2013.

Ross and Vera are survived by their three children: Patricia (Doug) Manifold of South Ogden, Clayton (Suzanne) of Anchorage, Alaska, and Jan (Steve) Powers of Antlers, Oklahoma, five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

The family is grateful and wishes to thank the doctors and all of the members of the staff of Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, UT, for the kind and compassionate care for Dad before sending him off to join his beloved Vera on their eternal voyage on the oceans and their flight into the wild blue yonder – fly high and fly free.