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Colonel Billy Cooper McFadden, 89

| March 17, 2010 4:08 AM

A hero has gone home to rest in the arms of the Lord. Colonel Billy Cooper McFadden, U.S. Army (Retired) died peacefully March 13, 2010, in his Coeur d’Alene home in the presence of his family.

Colonel McFadden was a hero to his comrades in arms, to his country and to his family and friends. He served with distinction during WWII in North Africa and Europe. He received the Silver Star and Bronze Star medals and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm, all for valor in combat. As a company commander, he honorably led and protected his men at the risk of his own life. After WWII he continued to serve as a unit commander in the U.S. Army Reserve; and he started his professional employment at Ford Motor Company. After a 30-year career, he retired from Ford in 1976.

He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1990.

An Elder in the Community of Christ Church, he was instrumental in starting and developing congregations in Lee’s Summit, Mo., and here in Coeur d’Alene. For 70 years, he blessed, married, ministered and presided over vital church ceremonies. He was a popular and frequent speaker in the Coeur d’Alene public schools, keeping the knowledge and history of WWII alive in the minds of young Americans.

Colonel McFadden was born on May 1, 1920, in Independence, Mo. He was the third son of Ada Cooper McFadden and Luther Munson McFadden. He learned the grocery business and the house painting business as he grew up in the Great Depression of the 1930s. He gladly shared the successful life lessons that he learned in those years with everyone who knew him. With a firm handshake, a quick, broad grin and a hearty hug, you became his friend for life.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Earlene Rhodes McFadden; by his five children: Barbara Ann Wilkerson (Jerry) of St. Joseph, Mo., William Bruce McFadden (Linda) of McKinney, Texas, Judyth Kenyon Hanna (Dayne) of Coeur d’Alene, Teresa Ann McFadden of Coeur d’Alene, and Charles Thomas McFadden (Tracy) of St. Louis, Mo.; by his niece, Connie J. Wesley of Raytown, Mo.; by 13 grandchildren, Mike, Jeff, Katherine, Willow, Will, Meredith, Emily, Kris, Taryn, Sarah, Rachel, Ryan and Kelly; and by eight great-grandchildren, Sydnie, Mitchell, Holden, Marshall, Skye, Chloe, Chet and Oliver.

He was preceded in death by his niece, Wendy Lynn Wilkerson; and his parents, two brothers and two sisters.

Services will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, March 19, 2010, at English Funeral Chapel, 1133 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene. Graveside services with military honors will follow. A reception will be held at English for friends and family immediately following the graveside service. 

The family requests that donations be made to Hospice of North Idaho or Spokane Valley Community of Christ in lieu of flowers.

Please sign Billy’s guest registry and view his online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.