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Ernest Carl Ramsey departed this earth on November 07, 2021. He entered it January 15, 1933 up on the plateau at a place called Muddy Pond, on the fringes of the Great Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. He grew up working the land with his family, living a simple life but a good one. At age ten, he laid eyes on an airplane for the first time, and that was it: he knew his calling was to fly. Turning seventeen, with nothing more than a 6th grade education and what knowledge he had gleaned from the books he borrowed from a neighbor’s library; he passed the Air Force entrance exam and served his country as an aviation mechanic during the Korean War. While enlisted he became a pilot on his own time, making his first solo flight in a Fairchild PT-19.
While stationed in England, he met a girl on a train traveling outside London and fell in love. He was married to Elizabeth Hallie Brain in 1954 and they settled in the heart of aviation in Dayton, Ohio. Carl completed his flight training there while holding down a job in a carbon paper factory. In a marriage lasting 42 years, he had 6 children with Elisabeth. They moved to Sylvania, Ohio in 1968, for a job as a corporate pilot flying for Dana Corporation. In his long and illustrious career there, as a Captain, Chief Pilot and ultimately Director of Flight Operations, he flew executives to all fifty states and many countries throughout the world.
After retirement and his marriage’s end, he returned to eastern Tennessee – the most beautiful place in the world in his heart’s eye and bought a house boat, “The Lady Kay”, and made it a home. There on Watt’s Barr Lake he fished, welcomed his children and grandchildren on summer vacations, and made new friends; one of them exemplary – Kinch York with whom he had myriad adventures upon the legendary “Cajun Queen” in every secluded cove where the big crappie lurked. Kinch introduced him to Edna Cox, a charming southern belle, who turned out to be the second love of his life.
After a stroke in 2016, he returned to Ohio to be near his children. There in assisted living at Alpine Village in Napoleon, he made new friends once again, many of which were the staff there who gave him extraordinary care and kindness in difficult circumstances brought on by the pandemic.
Carl was a beloved father and grandfather. He had a curious mind and a sharp intelligence that he applied to everything in life, his work, his family, his friendships and his hobbies. Things in motion – motorcycles, boats, cars, and the always above all, airplanes fascinated him. He built two homebuilt aircraft that he flew for many hours. Carl had a compassionate side that he sometimes hid. He loved to laugh and share stories of his travels, and childhood with family and friends.
Carl was preceded in death by his parents Carrie Ramsey (d. 1933), Ernest Ramsey and Mary Ramsey. Also, by brothers James Ramsey, Edmund Ramsey, sister Grace Martin, and son David, who died at birth.
Carl is survived by his former wife, Elisabeth Ramsey, sisters, Carlos (Norman) Seal, Betty (Avery) Atkinson, Loie (Bill) Buck, and Alice (Don) Byrd. Children: Stephen (Linda) Ramsey, Andrew (Penny) Ramsey, Amy (Robert) Fisher, Mark Ramsey, Matthew (Sheryl) Ramsey. Grandchildren: Jennifer Fogle, Sara Lahman, Michael Savage, Thomas Ramsey, Colin Fisher, Aubrey Mason, Jake Funchion, Nick Funchion and eight great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to: Cherry Street Mission, Toledo, Ohio. The obituary was lovingly prepared by the Ramsey Family.
Funeral arrangements are pending and incomplete and will be announced later by the Edgar-Grisier Funeral Home, Wauseon, Ohio.