Emil Douglas Flynn

Emil Douglas Flynn, 94, of Snyder, died Sunday, July 23, 2017.
Graveside service for Mr. Flynn will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Hillside Memorial Gardens. The service will be under the direction of Bell-Cypert-Seale Funeral Home.
Visitation will be held from 6-7 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

Mr. Flynn was born on July 5, 1923 in Orange, N.J. to Walter H. and Dorothy Decker Flynn. He married Jo Ervin Bailey on May 3, 1943 in Louisville, Ky. when they were both 19. After active service in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he returned to New Jersey, where he attended Montclair State College, obtaining a master’s degree in accounting while working as a garbage man to support his young family. The family moved to Virginia, where he was an investment advisor and taught accounting at Bluefield College. Through all of this, he continued to serve in the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a liaison officer for the U.S. Air Force Academy, retiring after 42 years as a lieutenant colonel. In 1957, the family moved to Snyder, where he was the business manager/assistant superintendent of Snyder ISD for 23 years.

Mr. Flynn had a lifelong love of flying. In the Army Air Corps, he flew the C-46, C-47 and the CG-4A Glider, in which he was an instructor pilot. After moving to Snyder, he continued to fly for the Diamond M Foundation and various friends. He also served on the Scurry County Airport board of directors for many years. He played a key role in the establishment, provisioning of, and subsequent management of the National World War II Glider Pilot Museum in Lubbock. For many years he served as the national president of the WWII Glider Pilots Association and later as the treasurer of the Silent Wings Foundation.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his bothers, Walter H. Flynn Jr. and Roger A. Flynn.
He is survived by his wife of 74 years, Jo Bailey Flynn; three children, John and his wife, Vicki, of Santa Fe, N.M., Mike and his wife, Laura, of Las Cruces, N.M. and Tim and his wife, Maria, of Kalaheo, Hawaii; his younger brother, Roland R. Flynn of Hackettstown, N.J.; one brother-in-law, Joseph Rhodes of Mendham, N.J.; eight grandchildren, Scott, Shannon, Brian, Colin, Michelle, Windsor, Christopher and Lily; eight great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. Additionally, he is survived by friends too numerous to mention whose love and care was made abundantly clear to both him and his family during this last month of his life.
He loved well and was well loved.

Memorials may be made to the Silent Wings Foundation, 6202 N. Interstate 27, Lubbock, TX 79403.

Online condolences may be posted at www.bellcypertseale.com.