FINKLEA, Robert Dewey

Robert Dewey Finklea, 79, of Phoenix, died at the Veterans' Hospital in Phoenix, AZ on April 30, 2003. Robert (RD) was born in Laveen, AZ on March 23, 1924. During the Second World War, RD flew "The Hump" (the Himalaya Mountains) as a C-87 pilot in the China-Burma-India Theater where he accumulated 605 combat hours of flying time. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and was discharged as a Captain from the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1946. After the war he worked as an executive pilot flying for various companies until he retired in 1989. He was an active member of the Hump Pilots Association and the CBI Veterans' Organization. Robert is survived by his wife of sixty years, Joan Aker Finklea of Phoenix; four children, James R. Finklea (Nancy) of New Orleans, LA; Leigh Hartman (Stan), of La Jolla, CA; Susan Lucking (Stephen) of Tempe; AZ and Thomas S. Finklea (Lynn) of Phoenix, AZ. He is also survived by nine grandchildren, Joseph Robert Finklea and Jill Finklea of Phoenix; Katherine Finklea Cortes of New Orleans, LA; Stanford F. Hartman Ill of Charlotte, NC; Jaime Hartman of Sacramento, CA; Kristina Lucking and Thomas Lucking of Tempe, AZ; Tanya Finklea and Tiphany Finklea of Phoenix, AZ; and two great grandchildren, Courtney Cortes and Ceferino Cortes, IV, of New Orleans, LA. Services will be held on Friday, May 2nd, at 10:00 AM at the First United Methodist Church at Central Ave. and Missouri in Phoenix. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Wesley Community Center's Health Center, 1300 S. 10th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85034. Published in the Arizona Republic on 5/1/2003.