Everett Windes was an adventurer at heart. He had a passion for aviation and a lively curiosity about everything around him.
“From the time he saw his first plane fly overhead, he was fascinated,” said his daughter, Cindy Greer, 54, of Imperial. “He wasn’t afraid to take on new adventures; what most people would shy away from, he embraced.”
Everett B. Windes Jr. died Aug. 14 at age 85 after a battle with cancer.
He grew up on a farm in southern Missouri, the oldest of five children.
“He always talked about how they were basically self-sufficient,” Cindy said. “They only went to the store for sugar and salt, like in Little House on the Prairie.
“He and his brothers and their dad and grandfather would cut large blocks of ice in the winter and drop them down the well. They’d stay cold all the way through summer, and they’d bring them up and make ice cream for the Fourth of July.”
Around the time Mr. Windes graduated from Fremont High School, where his father was school board president, he got the flying bug.
“He would go down to the Van Buren airport and trade labor for lessons,” Cindy said. “We have all his log books, where he kept track of his flying hours.”
When he got proficient enough to take a plane up by himself, the teenaged adventurer’s stunts scared spectators half to death.
“My grandma and grandpa talked about how he’d buzz the farm,” Cindy said with a laugh. “He would cut the engine, the plane would spin toward the ground like it was going to crash – then he’d pull out just in the nick of time.
“It terrified them! He was such a daredevil.”
While visiting his grandmother in the hospital, he met a nurse named Mary. The two were married and had four children. He worked as a machinist at McDonnell-Douglas, and got in flying hours on the side.
“He flew airmail in a twin-engine Beechcraft,” Cindy said. “He’d work second shift at McDonnell, then drive to Malden and fly overnight.”
On the books, Mr. Windes was the co-pilot; but he often ended up doing all the flying, Cindy said.
“One night in a storm, the plane was struck by lightning about an hour away from Lambert (airport),” she said. “It caused all the instruments and gauges to fail. The captain was passed out drunk in the back and my dad didn’t know what to do. He took the half-empty whiskey bottle and put it up on the dash to use as a level, and used a magnetic compass to figure out which way to go.”
The plane made it safely home.
“Dad said the captain woke up halfway there and said, ‘You’re doing fine, Everett; take it on in’ and passed out again.”
Mr. Windes also flew with the Civil Air Patrol, sometimes with family along.
“He took me up one time when he was practicing takeoffs and landings,” Cindy said. “That was my first airplane ride.”
Divorced from his first wife, Mr. Windes met Juanita “Janie” in the cafeteria at McDonnell-Douglas. After they married, he adopted her son and the couple had another child together.
Raising his blended family kept Mr. Windes too busy to do as much flying as he would have liked.
“He would go to the Festus airport and watch the planes come in and talk to people, but he never really flew much after that,” Cindy said.
Mr. Windes and his wife did a lot of traveling once he retired.
“He told me just before he died that he’d been to all 50 states, many more than once,” Cindy said. “His favorite trip was to Alaska. He actually drove there; some of the way on gravel roads. He fantasized about moving there and becoming a bush pilot.”
In between trips, Mr. Windes enjoyed entertaining visitors, drawing and listening to bluegrass music. He also loved having philosophical discussions with his son.
“They would have sparring conversations over religion, politics, hunting,” Cindy said. “My brother said he suspected my dad did homework to prepare for these debates.”
Cindy said her father made each of his children feel special.
“He always made a point to check in with us, find out how things were going,” she said. “He really, truly listened and cared.”
He was never afraid to speak his mind, either.
“He didn’t mince words,” his daughter said with a laugh. “He said what he thought. He wasn’t afraid to speak up if something was unfair or not right.”
Mr. Windes was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and given only three months to live. He was concerned for his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
“He did not want her to have to go into a nursing home,” Cindy said.
He died at home, surrounded by family.
“He had a ‘rally day,’” Cindy said. “He couldn’t talk, but he’d wiggle his feet. We told him we were taking care of Janie, and not long after that, he died.”
Mr. Windes is buried in a family cemetery not far from his birthplace.
“He lies under the oldest known scarlet oak tree in Missouri,” his daughter said. “There is a Missouri Department of Conservation plaque.”
She said her father will be remembered for his love of God and family, his appreciation of nature and his passion for aviation.
“He was a free spirit,” Cindy said. “He lived life on his terms and he did what he wanted. He had a good life.”
“Life Story,” posted each Saturday on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.