Grandpa's Obituary

My grandpa passed away a couple of years ago, but I wanted to post his obituary because he was such an amazing person. I'm so incredibly proud of him and am very honored to be his granddaughter. And I miss him a lot.

This is not a post to skim through, folks. He was such an amazing person and he really did shape US history during his time in the Army and at NASA. He and my grandma always said they wanted only two things from us: to get an education and to never dishonor the Levie name. I think we should step that up a notch and commit to use our educations to improve the well-being of our country in a noticeable way.

Anyway...I hope you will read this post all the way through. If his actions during the war don't inspire you then perhaps is happy 64 year marriage to my grandma will.

Here is his Silver Star. We had to break open a safe to get it and put it on his coat before his burial:

Uncle Walter sure enjoyed breaking into that safe:
His obituary was read on the radio stations in northern Georgia on the day of his funeral.

LaFAYETTE — James Kellum "Jake" Levie III, 90, died Friday, March 3, 2006. He was born Nov. 14, 1915, in Atlanta.

His later childhood was spent in Korea where his parents served as dental missionaries, and he returned to the United States to attend Berry School in Kentucky and then the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he studied electrical engineering and joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

In 1939, he entered active duty in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was stationed in the Philippine Islands when World War II began.

In the early days of WWII, as the Japanese forces approached the Bataan Peninsula, Lt. Levie's unit covered the withdrawal of the Division. Upon the withdrawal, Lt. Levie remained behind to salvage valuable signals equipment. For his "conspicuous bravery and inspiring leadership," he was awarded the Silver Star. After the surrender of the American forces in April 1942, Lt. Levie survived the Bataan Death March. He was transported to the P.O.W. camp in Mukden, Manchuria, in April 1942 where he was appointed Protestant chaplain and performed burial services for more than 500 men. When the P.O.W. camp was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945, the Soviet commander put Lt. Levie in charge, and the Japanese commandant surrendered his sword and his command to Lt. Levie.

After the war, he transferred to Army Counter-intelligence with assignments in occupied Japan, in Huntsville, Alabama, and in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1959, he retired from the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1960, he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the newly created Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. He worked there until 1986, rising to the position of chief of security by the time he retired with some 46 years of cumulative federal service.

In 1941, he married Avis Virginia Nash, of Atlanta, a union which lasted until her death in 2005 (64 years). During his retirement, they lived on a small farm near Huntsville, where he tended his prized herd of purebred Angus cattle, indulged his lifelong interests in the mechanical arts and agriculture and shepherded his children through school and out into the world.

Jake and Avis moved in 2002 to LaFayette, to be closer to relatives of their generation.

Survivors include their three children, James K. Levie III, of Huntsville, Harold W. Levie, of Livermore, Calif., and Virginia A. Maloney of Brooklyn, N.Y.; five grandchildren, Julie C. Levie and Edward J. Levie, of Livermore, Kelwyn M. Levie and Ryan E. Levie, of Huntsville, and James N. Maloney, of Brooklyn; two brothers, Dr. Walter H. Levie, of LaFayette, and Jim F. Levie, of San Francisco, Calif.; and a sister, Jessie R. Gilreath, of California; several nieces and nephews also survive.

Funeral 1 p.m. Monday from the Wallis Memorial Chapel with services conducted by Dr. Todd Gaddis.

Interment in Chattanooga National Cemetery with full military honors.

The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Arrangements are by Wallis-Wilbanks Funeral Home of LaFayette.