Captain Lynn Washburn

Captain Allan Lynn Washburn, died on January 26, 2020, in Saint Charles, Missouri, at age 87. He was an inveterate traveller on four continents and two oceans, an airman who began a flying career of 33 years in the upper Amazon jungles of eastern Peru then, as an airline pilot with Ozark Airlines and TWA, took an early retirement in 1988 after logging 28,100 flight hours.

Born in Kansas during 1932, his early years were spent in Oregon. Then in 1940, at age 7, with his younger sister Patricia, and their parents, who then became missionaries, the family moved to (South America) Colombia's Llanos de Casanare. In early 1945, via Pan American Airlines, alone at age 12, very fluent in Spanish, he flew to the USA to attend a boarding school in South Carolina, then another in California, finally finishing school in Oregon.

In 1953 he married Geraldine Chamberlain, then during 1955-57 with their first daughter, they moved to Peru where he was a company pilot flying in the Andes and Upper Amazonian jungles where their second daughter was born. In 1959, based in St Louis, Missouri, birthplace of their two youngest daughters, he flew with Ozark Airlines and then TWA, taking an early retirement in 1988. During 32 years of all independent European/UK travel, they logged 87,000+ rental car miles.

Meanwhile, aboard their 1989 Chevrolet 4x4 Blazer, they drove to the four extreme points of North America: Key West, Tijuana, Prudhoe Bay (Alaska), and Cape Spear Newfoundland, while staying the night in 49 states plus all 12 road-connected Canadian Provinces and Territories, thus completing more than 7 1/2 million air and surface miles, which included 15 automotive trips from Missouri to Arctic Alaska.

During June 2007 his wife of 54 years died, very suddenly, due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Their daughters are: Teresa Washburn, Linda Driy (Scott), Sandra Stelzer (Kevin), and Cecilia Allan-Burklow (Larry). In addition, eight grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren. His siblings are Patricia Hunt of California, and Delmar Washburn of Oregon. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ira and Tracy Washburn, his wife, Geraldine (Chamberlain) Washburn, his granddaughter, Stephanie Phelps, his twin great-grandsons, Jude and Jonas Stelzer, and his son-in-law, Steven Baer.

Lynn was a member of Dardenne Presbyterian Church and was the facilitator of his Sunday School class for many years. He was supportive of many aviation missions, sharing with them his time, talents, and treasures. He was a member of TARPA (TWA Retired Pilots Association), Silver Swallows (Ozark Airline Retired Pilots Association), and a founding member of The American Air Museum in Britain.

Visitation will be from 12:30 pm until 2:30 pm on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at Dardenne Presbyterian Church's Old Rock Church building, 7400 S Outer Rd 364, Dardenne Prairie, MO 63368. A funeral service will follow at 2:30 pm. Burial will immediately follow the service at Dardenne Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

Memorial contributions in Lynn's name may be made to either the Dardenne Presbyterian Church Cemetery Fund, 7400 S Outer Rd 364, Dardenne Prairie, MO 63368.

Or The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 21787, St. Louis, MO 63109-0787.

To share a memory of Lynn or leave a special message for his family, please visit the guestbook below.