CRESTVIEW — Memories of an Okaloosa County aviation and business leader will live on with the dedication of a memorial at Bob Sikes Airport.
“We wanted to make a memorial for people to remember our friend, Hervis Ward, the aviation pioneer, the patriot, the gentleman,” Maj. Gen. Chedister (ret.) said during the Emerald Coast Military Affairs Council’s Aug. 7 dedication. “He was the first guy to land here when it was just a taxiway constructed here in 1964."
The memorial was erected at Crestview Technology Air Park's entrance, at the suggestion of park owners Paul Hsu and Bob Keller.
A LEGEND
“Mr. Ward is really a legend to our area,” Hsu said. “We really wanted to remember him for what he has done for our community. We erected this for him.”
Chedister credited his wife, Trecia; Hsu’s wife, Maggie; and Hsu’s executive administrator, Amanda Negron, for dressing up the granite-encased obelisk, which is topped by an aircraft propeller.
The Military Affairs Council also dedicated a memorial plaque to Ward at his deer ranch near Crestview, a gathering spot for retired and active duty military members, Chedister said.
“He supported the military including our MAC,” Emerald Coast Military Affairs Council executive assistant Col. Doug Hardin (ret.) said. “He was a good friend.”
YOUNG FLYER
Ward’s daughter-in-law, Cathy Ward, remembered the Okaloosa native — who was born on today's Eglin Air Force Base — as a kindly man “who always made me laugh.”
He was a descendant of Elijah Ward, one of the first settlers of today's Crestview and Okaloosa County.
“Hervis got his first job at age 10, driving a (hazardous materials) truck for his dad’s oil delivery company,” Cathy Ward said, adding a wooden block had to be strapped to the accelerator so the boy’s foot could reach it.
Ward’s son, Burt, was his father’s passenger when he touched down at Crestview’s new airport in 1964. He said his father started flying in his mid-teens, at which time he bought his first airplane. However, Hervis Ward made a tremendous sacrifice just a few years later: He sold the plane to buy furniture to set up housekeeping with his bride, Lucy.
“His family knew he was serious about her when he sold that plane,” Cathy Ward said.
WORLD WAR II HERO
Hervis Ward served in World War II as a seaman in the United States Merchant Marine, an unusual choice for a young man keen on flying.
“He was drafted and he wanted to get into the Air Force, but they were full,” Lucy Ward said. “He talked to the Navy, but they were full, too. He didn’t want to go into the Army, so the Merchant Marine was all that was left.”
After the war, he took over his father, Henson Ward’s, American Oil Company franchise, ultimately owning a chain of more than 20 Amoco stations with Nugget convenience stores, which he sold in the 1990s.
Hervis Ward garnered more than 14,000 flying hours, often flying friends and family members on hunting and fishing trips around the country, Burt Ward said.
But he’ll never forget the excitement as a young boy as his father touched down in 1964 on a dirt taxiway that today is the region’s longest runway.
WANT TO GO?
The Hervis Ward memorial may be viewed at the entrance to the Crestview Technology Air Park, 3164 Airport Road.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview aviation 'legend' remembered with memorial