Woodrow Dennis Pike1

M, #21286, b. Sep 8, 1917, d. Sep 21, 2014
Pedigree
Father*Clement Eugene Pike1 b. Jan 27, 1887, d. Dec 18, 1979
Mother*Nettie May Healey1 b. Mar 24, 1891, d. Mar 8, 1975

Family 1

Marjorie Jeanne Diebel b. Nov 4, 1924, d. Jan 30, 1972
Children

Family 2

Annette Lucille Boisvert

Chronological Events

Marriage* Woodrow Dennis Pike married Marjorie Jeanne Diebel.2 
Birth*Sep 8, 1917 Woodrow Dennis Pike was born on Sep 8, 1917 at Irasburg, Orleans County, Vermont, United States.3 
 He was the son of Clement Eugene Pike and Nettie May Healey.1 
Death*Sep 21, 2014 Woodrow Dennis Pike died on Sep 21, 2014, at age 97 at Newport, Orleans County, Vermont, United States.3 
ObituarySep 22, 2014  OBITUARY: Woodrow "Woodie" D. Pike, 97, of Newport, VT passed away peacefully on September 21, 2014 in Newport with his family around him. He was born on September 8, 1917 in Irasburg to Clement and Nettie (Healey) Pike. His first wife Marjorie Jeanne Pike of Victoria, TX, died in 1972. He later married Annette Boisvert who survives him.

He was a WW11 veteran, serving as a pilot in the Army Air Force and flying coastal anti-submarine patrols. After the war he moved with his bride to Vermont where he was a commercial pilot for several years before trying auto sales. He never looked back, selling cars for Rice Chevrolet, Frawley Chevrolet and running Forest City Auto for a few years before retiring. Woodie couldn't stay away. He came out of retirement and was a salesman for Barton Motors where he retired again in 2000.
He loved golf and was a member of both the Newport and Orleans Country Clubs, and a member of the Hole in One Club. Orleans Country Club retired his locker door when he had to give up golf. He was a former member of the Newport Elks #2255 and a lifetime member of the American Legion Post 21. He bowled for many years in Newport. He was also a member of the Memphremagog Lodge #65 F & AM of Newport. A former pilot, he became a member of the Silver Wings. He was former president of the Orleans County Dealers Association and Vice President of the VT Pilots Association. He was also a member of the Kidder Pond Club and Herb March Coffee Club.
He is survived by his wife Annette Pike of Newport, VT, by his children: Steven Pike and his wife Linda of Swanton, VT, Andrew Pike of Newport, VT, Sharon Pike of St. Johnsbury, VT, by his step children: Patricia Williams of Newport, VT, Nancy Menard of Houston, Texas, and Rick Menard and his wife Carmen of St. Johnsbury, VT. He is also survived by his grandchildren: Kimberly Jean Pike, Randall Pike, Christopher Pike, Rebekah Miura, JD Williams, and Sean Donovan, by his great grandchildren: Shelby, Jackson, Taylor, Simon, Madeline, Oliver, and Maelle, by his sisters Avis Harper of Barton, VT, Lucie Anderson of Rutland, VT, and Elizabeth Dudley of Orleans, VT, and by numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his son William Pike in 2008.

Information provided by Britch-Converse-Rushford Funeral Home, Newport, VT.3
 
ObituarySep 23, 2014  OBITUARY: Eulogy - And so now we gather to remember the passing of yet another member of the Greatest Generation. When will we see their like again Woodrow "Woodie" D. Pike, 97, of Newport, VT passed away peacefully on September 21, 2014 in Newport with his family around him. He was born on September 8, 1917, in Irasburg to Clement and Nettie (Healey) Pike in his Aunt Loraine Munsey's house nearby, just off the Common on the Albany Road. His parents were staunch Democrats and named their son after President Woodrow Wilson. He got his middle name Dennis from the local Democratic Party chairman. I will not speculate further as to why. His first wife, Marjorie Jeanne Diebel, of Victoria, TX, died young in 1972. He met her while stationed in Victoria at Aloe Field as a student pilot in the Army Air Force. Her parents, Reuben and Edna Diebel, and Jeanne's brother Andy, took a shine to him and remained close to him all their lives. He later married Annette Boisvert, his beloved wife of 40 years, who survives him. Woodie grew up in Irasburg, attending this church to which his ashes have now returned. He enjoyed baseball and basketball as a youth, attending first Orleans High School, then Craftsbury Academy. The reasons for the switch are probably known to his sisters, but I expect his youthful exuberance contributed to his parents' decision. It was a good one. He roomed with Everett "Doc" Davis, future husband of his cousin, Isabelle Farrar, and played basketball with his future brother in law Stuart Anderson and cousin Charlie Smith. The family connections he made there endure to this day. When WW2 broke out, he had decided UVM was not for him and was working in a creamery. He enlisted in Rutland in 1942 and by late 1943 was a staff sergeant in the Army Air Force, stationed in Ohio. There, he passed the pilot training exam, and it was off to Texas. And that journey of his is why I am here today. He served as a pilot through the rest of WW2, flying coastal anti-submarine patrols. He said he must have scared them off because he never saw a German submarine. He also flew transport missions in a C-47 within the US. After the war he moved with his bride to Vermont where he was a commercial pilot for several years in the White River area before trying auto sales back home in the Northeast Kingdom. After the death of Jeanne and his marriage to Annette, he moved from Irasburg to Newport, where he lived the rest of his life. Once he started selling cars, he never looked back, selling for Rice Chevrolet, Frawley Chevrolet, Mulkin Chevrolet, and running Forrest City Auto sales for a few years before retiring. But Woodie just couldn't stay away. He came out of retirement and sold cars for the Harper Valley Boys, Winston and his namesake Woodie Harper, at Barton Motor Company, from which he retired again in 2000. He knew almost everyone in the County, or his dad, or his uncle, and had a knack for showing up with just the car you needed exactly when you needed it. That's how I bought several cars, so I know. He loved golf and was a member of both the Newport and Orleans Country Clubs. The foursome of Woodie, Randy Smith, Hugh Pierce, and Chuck Dudley was a fixture at OCC for 25 years. Their picture hangs in the men's locker room today. Well, actually the men's rest room, but we're working on that. Skip Davis, Bob Milne, Babe Heath, and many others spent memorable times with Woodie on the course and off. His old boss Harry Rice used to lecture him about spending more time in the office and less on the golf course. Dad replied that he sold more cars on the golf course than anyone else did working in an office. He was a member of the Hole in One Club, using a 9-iron to ace the 13th at Orleans Country Club. The party that ensued after his hole in one is part of club legend. Orleans Country Club retired his locker door and gave it to him when he had to give up golf in his early 90's. He then gave it to his nephew, Brad Pike Dudley, reasoning that it belonged both in the family and at the place he had enjoyed so much. Woodie's locker door is now back at OCC. He was a former member of the Newport Elks #2255 and a lifetime member of the American Legion Post 21. He bowled for many years in Newport. He was also a member of the Central Lodge 62 F& AM in Irasburg. As a former WW2 pilot, he became a member of the Silver Wings and travelled to Texas for the Gathering of the Wings several times before their ranks thinned away. He was former president of the Orleans County Dealers Association and Vice President of the VT Pilots Association. He was also a founding member of the Kidder Pond Club, along with his brother in law Alex Harper, friend Paul Burkewitz, friend Clyde Whittemore, and uncle Clyde Healey. Woodie was the camp cook for many years, keeping the stew pot full on the wood cook stove, no easy task with a camp usually full of hungry men and kids, and cooking corn meal eggs cooked in bacon fat, also known as cholesterol bombs, for breakfast. I never could make them taste as good as he did. His only menu was, "I cook it, you eat it." Although a deer occasionally fell victim to the hunters, a lot more decks of cards got used up than bullets. He had a cabin cruiser, the Extra Dry, on Lake Mempremagog. Family and friends spent many happy hours on the water in that boat. Always a better host than navigator, Woodie thought that signs and lighthouses were just for tourist pictures, not for directional guidance, and ended up donating his bent propeller to the Landing Restaurant, now the East Side, where it still hangs on the wall. He was a long time member of the Herb March Social Club, men from all walks of life in Newport who gathered at Wendy's to drink coffee and talk about almost anything. His son Andy made sure he got there in his later years and became part of the group himself. If I recall correctly, Dad sold cars to Herb March. Woodie liked to travel around the country and managed to make it to a lot of places, including Texas several times, Florida, Jamaica, and even Pebble Beach for a round of golf. Woodie and Annette's big trip, however, was to Rome, and Dad escaped the Italian authorities with a piece of the Appian Way for me because he knew I liked things Roman. My father reveled in any activity that provided interaction with other people. Young or old, rich or poor, it didn't matter. He genuinely liked others. They sensed it and they responded to it. When Woodie came into a room, people smiled and the party began. His children, on the other hand, did not always make his life easier, but his love for them remained steadfast. He kept up with what each grandchild and, later, great-grandchild, was doing, and never forgot a birthday or anniversary. He was tickled pink when he got to hold his newest great-granddaughter, just before he passed away. Woodie is survived by his wife Annette Pike of Newport, VT, by his children: Steven Pike and his wife Linda of Swanton, VT, Andrew Pike of Newport, VT, Sharon Pike of St. Johnsbury, VT, by his step children: Patricia Williams of Newport, VT, Nancy Menard of Houston, Texas, and Rick Menard and his wife Carmen of St. Johnsbury, VT. He is also survived by his grandchildren: Kimberly Jean Pike, Randall Dennis Pike, Christopher Pike, Rebekah Miura, JD Williams, and Sean Donovan, by his great grandchildren: Shelby, Jackson Woodrow, Taylor, Simon, Madeline, Oliver, and Maelle, by his sisters Avis Harper of Barton, VT, Lucie Anderson of Rutland, VT, and Elizabeth Dudley of Orleans, VT, and by numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his son William Pike in 2008. Now we say farewell to Woodrow Dennis Pike, a good man who lived a long life to its fullest and made of his life a joy shared with his family and his friends. But how do you farewell to an aviator? By sharing a poem known to all pilots from English speaking countries. A sonnet written by John Gillespie Magee, an American pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Second World War who was killed at the age of 19. High Flight "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence. Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air. "Up, up the long delirious burning blue I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace, where never lark, or even eagle, flew; and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand and touched the face of God." Woodrow Pike slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter silvered wings all his life. Now, he has touched the face of God.3
 
Burial*Sep 24, 2014 He was buried on Sep 24, 2014 at Irasburg Cemetery, Irasburg, Orleans County, Vermont, United States, Find A Grave Memorial# 136347846
Plot: 467, Row K 65a.4 

Military *

 

Listed as a Military Veteran who served in wartime combat in World War 2.

 

Citations

  1. [S819] Site - Gencircles.com, online at http://www.myheritage.com
  2. [S802] Site - Ancestry.com, online at http://www.ancestry.com
  3. [S19] Obituary - Online, Newspaper or Funeral Home.
  4. [S58] Gravestones - Death Cert, Find-A-Grave, BillionGraves, #79.