Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tombstone Tuesday: Wings of Mercy


Here lies the precious remains,
 of a Fearless and Faithful Eagle.
The Pilot of the "Wings of Mercy."
And Savior of countless human lives.

This is the inscription on one of the most memorable gravestones in Riverside Cemetery, Mangum, Greer County, Oklahoma.  


It marks the grave of Pilot, Paul Powell, 1907-1934.  

Paul was the pilot of an air ambulance that operated out of Mangum, OK for Dr. F. Border, a very prominent early physician in SW Oklahoma.  Paul and two passengers were killed when his plane crashed near Childress, TX in 1934.  I have been trying to find out more information about this crash and will post a follow up if I can ever find a good source. I'm sure there will be a story about it in The Mangum Star since Dr. Border was also a former owner of the newspaper.

2 comments:

  1. What a lovely epitaph and monument!Very unusual,thank you for sharing it!

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  2. I just saw this recently . what a beautiful bronze . I was doing a search on this thank you for your information .

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