James Christopher Pool, Jr., 68, of Temple, passed away Sunday, August 18, 2013, of a heart attack. Graveside services will be at 12 noon, Thursday, September 5, 2013, in the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.
James was born in Ogbomoso, Nigeria, to James Christopher and Alice Elizabeth Routh Pool. His parents were Baptist missionaries (since 1935) and he attended school there (including Newton Academy) until age 14 when he attended Barret Jr. High School and Atherton High School in Louisville, Ky. He graduated with a B.A. (journalism major) from Baylor University in 1966. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he was commissioned as an officer and became a pilot in Vietnam, flying some 400 combat missions. In 2000 he wrote "The Phantom Colonel," a memoir of his time as a pilot of an AC-47 Dragonship named "Spooky" in the 4th Air Commando Squadron stationed at Phu Cat, RVN.
In 1972, while stationed at Bergstrom AFB in Columbus, OH, his only child, James E. Pool was born. For many years Jim flew Boeing 707 refueling aircraft; his last assignment was that of maintenance squadron commander at Hickam AFB, Honolulu, HI. While in the service Jim earned a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, and in 1979 when he left the Air Force after eleven years, he tested the entrepreneurial waters by starting an airline cargo business in Hawaii (APEX - Air Parcel Express Hawaii Inc). Following a downturn in the air cargo economy in the early 80's he became a cab driver and lived in a converted warehouse on Oahu for several years.
In the early 90s, Jim moved to San Angelo, Texas, and helped take care of his mother, Elizabeth, until she died in Nov. 2000. He developed an independent mortgage business called "Jim Pool Funding" for a few years and called himself "Cowboy Bob." In San Angelo he attended the Baptist church and served as a deacon. He organized his parents' missionary memorabilia of some 30 years and in the summer of 2012 (with help of John David Magee and Stinson Humphrey) had most of items shipped to Duke University archives.
After Elizabeth's death, he spent a year in Phoenix and, while experiencing "Me and Bobby McGee" freedom, drove a taxi and was an angel of mercy to scores of destitute persons (like himself.) Clay and Todd Routh, then, gave him a job at the Casa Lago resort near Austin in 2005. Rob Routh was instrumental in helping Jim get VA benefits, and about 2007, he moved to the Tutor Care Center in Temple, Texas, for a few years before moving into an apartment in 2010.
While at the assisted living facility, he published a quarterly journal, "Tutor Tales", in which he wrote biographical and human interest stories about the residents. He developed congestive heart failure and died of a heart attack on 18 Aug 2013 at age 68. Jim was married several times: Mary (1970-1974), Judith (1974-1975), Irene (1988-1990), Liufen (2007).
An older sister, Frances, died in March 2000.
He is survived by his son, James Erickson Pool and wife, Megan; grandchildren, Elijah, Esther, Eden, and Olive; and sister, Carolyn Pool, of Annandale, VA; other family members and numerous friends. I13
James was born in Ogbomoso, Nigeria, to James Christopher and Alice Elizabeth Routh Pool. His parents were Baptist missionaries (since 1935) and he attended school there (including Newton Academy) until age 14 when he attended Barret Jr. High School and Atherton High School in Louisville, Ky. He graduated with a B.A. (journalism major) from Baylor University in 1966. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he was commissioned as an officer and became a pilot in Vietnam, flying some 400 combat missions. In 2000 he wrote "The Phantom Colonel," a memoir of his time as a pilot of an AC-47 Dragonship named "Spooky" in the 4th Air Commando Squadron stationed at Phu Cat, RVN.
In 1972, while stationed at Bergstrom AFB in Columbus, OH, his only child, James E. Pool was born. For many years Jim flew Boeing 707 refueling aircraft; his last assignment was that of maintenance squadron commander at Hickam AFB, Honolulu, HI. While in the service Jim earned a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, and in 1979 when he left the Air Force after eleven years, he tested the entrepreneurial waters by starting an airline cargo business in Hawaii (APEX - Air Parcel Express Hawaii Inc). Following a downturn in the air cargo economy in the early 80's he became a cab driver and lived in a converted warehouse on Oahu for several years.
In the early 90s, Jim moved to San Angelo, Texas, and helped take care of his mother, Elizabeth, until she died in Nov. 2000. He developed an independent mortgage business called "Jim Pool Funding" for a few years and called himself "Cowboy Bob." In San Angelo he attended the Baptist church and served as a deacon. He organized his parents' missionary memorabilia of some 30 years and in the summer of 2012 (with help of John David Magee and Stinson Humphrey) had most of items shipped to Duke University archives.
After Elizabeth's death, he spent a year in Phoenix and, while experiencing "Me and Bobby McGee" freedom, drove a taxi and was an angel of mercy to scores of destitute persons (like himself.) Clay and Todd Routh, then, gave him a job at the Casa Lago resort near Austin in 2005. Rob Routh was instrumental in helping Jim get VA benefits, and about 2007, he moved to the Tutor Care Center in Temple, Texas, for a few years before moving into an apartment in 2010.
While at the assisted living facility, he published a quarterly journal, "Tutor Tales", in which he wrote biographical and human interest stories about the residents. He developed congestive heart failure and died of a heart attack on 18 Aug 2013 at age 68. Jim was married several times: Mary (1970-1974), Judith (1974-1975), Irene (1988-1990), Liufen (2007).
An older sister, Frances, died in March 2000.
He is survived by his son, James Erickson Pool and wife, Megan; grandchildren, Elijah, Esther, Eden, and Olive; and sister, Carolyn Pool, of Annandale, VA; other family members and numerous friends. I13
James Christopher Pool, Jr., 68, of Temple, passed away Sunday, August 18, 2013, of a heart attack. Graveside services will be at 12 noon, Thursday, September 5, 2013, in the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.
James was born in Ogbomoso, Nigeria, to James Christopher and Alice Elizabeth Routh Pool. His parents were Baptist missionaries (since 1935) and he attended school there (including Newton Academy) until age 14 when he attended Barret Jr. High School and Atherton High School in Louisville, Ky. He graduated with a B.A. (journalism major) from Baylor University in 1966. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he was commissioned as an officer and became a pilot in Vietnam, flying some 400 combat missions. In 2000 he wrote "The Phantom Colonel," a memoir of his time as a pilot of an AC-47 Dragonship named "Spooky" in the 4th Air Commando Squadron stationed at Phu Cat, RVN.
In 1972, while stationed at Bergstrom AFB in Columbus, OH, his only child, James E. Pool was born. For many years Jim flew Boeing 707 refueling aircraft; his last assignment was that of maintenance squadron commander at Hickam AFB, Honolulu, HI. While in the service Jim earned a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, and in 1979 when he left the Air Force after eleven years, he tested the entrepreneurial waters by starting an airline cargo business in Hawaii (APEX - Air Parcel Express Hawaii Inc). Following a downturn in the air cargo economy in the early 80's he became a cab driver and lived in a converted warehouse on Oahu for several years.
In the early 90s, Jim moved to San Angelo, Texas, and helped take care of his mother, Elizabeth, until she died in Nov. 2000. He developed an independent mortgage business called "Jim Pool Funding" for a few years and called himself "Cowboy Bob." In San Angelo he attended the Baptist church and served as a deacon. He organized his parents' missionary memorabilia of some 30 years and in the summer of 2012 (with help of John David Magee and Stinson Humphrey) had most of items shipped to Duke University archives.
After Elizabeth's death, he spent a year in Phoenix and, while experiencing "Me and Bobby McGee" freedom, drove a taxi and was an angel of mercy to scores of destitute persons (like himself.) Clay and Todd Routh, then, gave him a job at the Casa Lago resort near Austin in 2005. Rob Routh was instrumental in helping Jim get VA benefits, and about 2007, he moved to the Tutor Care Center in Temple, Texas, for a few years before moving into an apartment in 2010.
While at the assisted living facility, he published a quarterly journal, "Tutor Tales", in which he wrote biographical and human interest stories about the residents. He developed congestive heart failure and died of a heart attack on 18 Aug 2013 at age 68. Jim was married several times: Mary (1970-1974), Judith (1974-1975), Irene (1988-1990), Liufen (2007).
An older sister, Frances, died in March 2000.
He is survived by his son, James Erickson Pool and wife, Megan; grandchildren, Elijah, Esther, Eden, and Olive; and sister, Carolyn Pool, of Annandale, VA; other family members and numerous friends. I13
James was born in Ogbomoso, Nigeria, to James Christopher and Alice Elizabeth Routh Pool. His parents were Baptist missionaries (since 1935) and he attended school there (including Newton Academy) until age 14 when he attended Barret Jr. High School and Atherton High School in Louisville, Ky. He graduated with a B.A. (journalism major) from Baylor University in 1966. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he was commissioned as an officer and became a pilot in Vietnam, flying some 400 combat missions. In 2000 he wrote "The Phantom Colonel," a memoir of his time as a pilot of an AC-47 Dragonship named "Spooky" in the 4th Air Commando Squadron stationed at Phu Cat, RVN.
In 1972, while stationed at Bergstrom AFB in Columbus, OH, his only child, James E. Pool was born. For many years Jim flew Boeing 707 refueling aircraft; his last assignment was that of maintenance squadron commander at Hickam AFB, Honolulu, HI. While in the service Jim earned a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, and in 1979 when he left the Air Force after eleven years, he tested the entrepreneurial waters by starting an airline cargo business in Hawaii (APEX - Air Parcel Express Hawaii Inc). Following a downturn in the air cargo economy in the early 80's he became a cab driver and lived in a converted warehouse on Oahu for several years.
In the early 90s, Jim moved to San Angelo, Texas, and helped take care of his mother, Elizabeth, until she died in Nov. 2000. He developed an independent mortgage business called "Jim Pool Funding" for a few years and called himself "Cowboy Bob." In San Angelo he attended the Baptist church and served as a deacon. He organized his parents' missionary memorabilia of some 30 years and in the summer of 2012 (with help of John David Magee and Stinson Humphrey) had most of items shipped to Duke University archives.
After Elizabeth's death, he spent a year in Phoenix and, while experiencing "Me and Bobby McGee" freedom, drove a taxi and was an angel of mercy to scores of destitute persons (like himself.) Clay and Todd Routh, then, gave him a job at the Casa Lago resort near Austin in 2005. Rob Routh was instrumental in helping Jim get VA benefits, and about 2007, he moved to the Tutor Care Center in Temple, Texas, for a few years before moving into an apartment in 2010.
While at the assisted living facility, he published a quarterly journal, "Tutor Tales", in which he wrote biographical and human interest stories about the residents. He developed congestive heart failure and died of a heart attack on 18 Aug 2013 at age 68. Jim was married several times: Mary (1970-1974), Judith (1974-1975), Irene (1988-1990), Liufen (2007).
An older sister, Frances, died in March 2000.
He is survived by his son, James Erickson Pool and wife, Megan; grandchildren, Elijah, Esther, Eden, and Olive; and sister, Carolyn Pool, of Annandale, VA; other family members and numerous friends. I13
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