Philip Coulter
Philip Raymond Coulter, an old trooper has gone to “Fiddlers Green” on Friday, June 9, 2017 at the age of 93. He was born February 29, 1924 in a beet shack along the Poudre River, East of Fort Collins, CO during a raging late winter blizzard. He was the youngest child of Leslie James Coulter (18961948) and Ana Adelaide DozziTezza (1901-1937). His other siblings were Robert Stuart (1920-1996) and Edith May (1922-2014). In 1926 the family moved to Texarkana, AR, living on Miller Road. He attended Union School. In 1933, they moved across the state line to Lubbock Street. He then attended Central School, Junior High, and Texas Senior High.
In 1940, he enlisted in “C” Troop 112th Cavalry 56th Brigade Texas National Guard. He was in the 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers. On November 18, 1940, he was inducted into the service for one year. Philip took a high school certificate and was stationed in Ft. Bliss, Ft. Clark, and other border forts. In 1942, he was stationed with the American Division in New Caledonia. In 1943, he became an aviation cadet and returned to the states training in the South-East Command. In 1944, he was assigned copilot of a B-24 crew and was stationed in the CBI with the 436th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group. He flew gas missions over the hump to China, bombed in Burma, and Siam, flying 55 missions. He also flew 17 missions during the central Burma campaign with the 4th Combat Cargo.
Philip returned to the states in May 1945. He took tests and received a college entrance diploma. Most of the spaces in colleges were taken up, so he took a job with the CAA. He was stationed in Chadron, NE, where he joined the Elks Lodge. After transferring to Scottsbluff, NE, he met and married his wife, Jacie Kirk in 1950. Two daughters, Jorja Janine and Jana Audene were born there. In 1954, he transferred to Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center. Two sons, Kirk Stuart and Cory Alan were born in LaGrange. They built a home in Batavia in 1963, a daughter, Jodeen, and a son Kenneth James, were born there.
After his retirement in 1979, Philip attended the College of DuPage and earned an Associate Degree in transportation. He worked part time as a travel agent and a sample collector for the Zion and Byron Nuclear Power Stations. Phil and Jacie traveled the US in a motorhome and moved to Pharr, TX. After Philip suffered a stroke in 2006, they had to give up the motorhome, but they purchased a summer home in Sandwich, IL. In addition to his six children, he had four grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. Cremation Rites were accorded to Burkhart-Eighner Funeral Home in Sandwich, IL. For more information or to sign the online guest book, go to www. EighnerFuneralHomes.com