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Earl Franklin
Reitz
April 7, 1920 -
October 28, 1999
Midland, Texas
- Earl Franklin Reitz, 79, of Midland, Texas, passed away Thursday (Oct. 28,
1999) at a local care facility.
Funeral services have been scheduled for 3 p.m. today at the Ellis Funeral Home,
801 Andrews Highway, Midland, Texas.
The family requests memorials be directed to the Younger Center at Manor Park.
Earl Franklin Reitz was born on April 7, 1920, in Red Oak, Iowa, to John and
Hazel (Wright) Reitz. He served in the Army Air Force from 1939 to 1945 in both
the Pacific and European Theaters. He was a staff sergeant aerial gunner on a
B-17 in the 11th Air Force in the Aleutian Islands in 1942. After graduating
from Bombardier Cadet School in Deming, N.M. in 1943, he was assigned as a
second lieutenant on a B-24 Liberator stationed in Italy from 1943 to 1944.
He held the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon Battle Star and the European-African-Middle
East Medal with three Battle Stars, the Air Medal with Four Clusters and
Distinguished Unit Citation with one Cluster.
He married Violet Schlender in Forest City, Iowa, on June 8, 1947. He worked for
the U.S. Post Office in Clear Lake, Iowa, before moving his family to Tampa,
Fla., where he obtained a bachelor's degree at the University of Tampa.
He then taught high school in Florida for many years, specializing in history
and astronomy. He and his wife moved to Midland, Texas, in 1992 to be near
family.
Mr. Reitz was preceded in death by his brothers, Wilbert Reitz, of Carroll,
Iowa, and Arthur Reitz, of San Francisco.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Violet Reitz, of Midland, Texas; his
son, Kenneth Reitz and his wife, Peggy, of Louisa, Va.; his daughter, Laurel
Caputo and her husband, Joe, of Midland, Texas; his granddaughter, Jensen Reitz
Montambault, of Washington, D.C.; his grandsons, James Caputo and his wife,
Deidre, of Norman, Okla. and Thomas Caputo, of Lubbock, Texas; two sisters, Jean
Lodwick, of Des Moines, Iowa and Edith McCue, of Villasca, Iowa; one brother,
the Rev. Harold Reitz; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Ellis Funeral Home, 801 Andrews Highway, Midland, TX 79701 (915) 683-5555.
source: Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, 29 Oct 1999, page
A10, column 1
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