Raymond Talbert

Lt. Col. USAF (Ret) Raymond Webb Tolbert, 82, of Waco, passed away Tuesday, December 30, 2003 at a local nursing facility.

Graveside services with full military honors will be held on Saturday, January 3, 2003 at 10:00 am at Oakwood Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 2:00 to 9:00 pm Friday at the OakCrest Funeral Home, 4520 Bosque Blvd.

Colonel Tolbert was born August 2, 1921, to Loren and Maud Tolbert near Howe, Texas. He graduated from Sherman High School in 1939. He obtained his flying license in 1940 and flew with the Royal Air Force section stationed in California. He joined the Army Air Corp in 1942 as a flight instructor. He married Fay Moser on May 6, 1944. After World War II, he left military service and moved to Waco where he worked as circulation manager for the Waco Tribune-Herald. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Baylor University in 1950.

He was recalled to active military service in 1951. During his lengthy military career, he was a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and bombardier. He was involved with the Minute Man missile train in Utah and served in Viet Nam, flying Caribou cargo plane. He was Deputy Commander of two U.S. Air Force bases in Germany and Commander of the 71st Missile Squadron in Bitburg, Germany.

He retired from the Air Force in 1972 and returned to Waco.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Fay Moser Tolbert; daughter, Patricia A. Landrum and husband, Jim, of Hewitt; son, Raymond W. Tolbert II of Waco; grandson, Daniel Ray Tolbert of Killeen, TX.