NISPEL, Wallace Irvin

Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona Thursday, October 25, 2005 Wallace Irwin Nispel, age 78, died Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2005. Wallace was born Sept. 24,1927, in Ely, Nev. He grew up in Hollywood, Calif., graduated from Fairfax High School and attended Occidental College for two years. He transferred to UCLA, graduating with a BS in Marketing in June of 1953. Wallace served as president for one year for the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon. After graduating from UCLA, he and two fraternity brothers hitchhiked around Europe. When he ran out of money, he was able to get a job in Spain running the motor pool at the SAC base. Wallace returned to California two years later and using all of his earnings and bought his first auto, a convertible. Wallace was a member of the Lancers Club in Hollywood, Calif., a life member of UCLA's Alumni Association, Golf Association, wherever he was residing, a 12-year member of Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association and Northern Arizona Genealogical Society (NAGS). Wallace served in the U.S. Army during WWII. He was a retired Allstate Sales Agent in the San Francisco Bay area after 37 years. He also was a red bus driver at Glacier National Park during the summers of 1948 and 1949; they were lovingly called "Gear-Jammers." In 1998, they had a 50th reunion of the 1948 "Gear-Jammers" and have had a mini-reunion every two or three years since. The most recent reunion took place the first week in September of this year. He is survived by his fiance, Colleen Goetzelman; son, Antony W. Nispel of San Jose, Calif.; daughter, Manette Fairmont (Kenneth) of Sonoma, Calif.; and stepson, William H. Hart (Angela) of Houston, Texas; sister, Nancy Sawyer (James); nephews, Brian (Diane) and Grant; cousins, William & Mary Wallace of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Arlene & Wolf Drewes of Bethesda, Md., Ms. Althea Mohar of Papillion, Neb., Ms. Evogene Sales of Prairie Village, Kan., Robert & Marge Nispel of La Mesa, Calif., Barbara Jo & Norman Mundell of Vista, Calif., Thomas Grigsby & Sarojini of Arlington, Va., Janet McCarron of Loveland, Colo., William Howard of King, Wisc., John DesCombes of Denver, Colo., Lyke Yost of Hesston, Kan., Arnold & Barbara Torgerson of Fort Collins, Colo., and Elden & Joan Wagenblast of The Dalles, Ore. A celebration of life will be held at the Arizona Ruffner Wakelin Funeral Home in Prescott on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005, at 4 p.m. The Arizona Ruffner Wakelin Funeral Home assisted the family with the arrangements. Information provided by survivors.