Lewis Adair Payne

Notes:

Lewis was named after David Lewis Adair who was dating a fellow resident of his parent's rented house (corner of 10th and Main, Duncan, OK.). David was so pleased when he was told falsely by the girl that the new baby was being named after him that he purchased a pair of shoes for the child. The gift was gratefully accepted. The name was probably shortened as there was a David L. Payne well known in Oklahoma history (a Yankee captain boomer involved in scandal).

1932 - Attended Ardmore High School.

1933 - In January, he moved to Lefors, Texas, to live with his aunt Pearl for the rest of the academic year. He went to the local High School. He was described on arrival as coming "from Ardmore with a fine [report] card." He immediately became a reporter on the school newspaper 'The Pirate' and gained a schoolwide reputation as a poet and orator.

1934-Graduated from Duncan High School.

1936-8 Began a daily journal which he was to regularly write up for one year. Went to work with a Tulsa barnstormer, Earl Field, and learned aircraft engines on the job. He earned about five dollars a week. He was living with his parents in Duncan.

1940 - Ground Instructor's Certificate # 41961-40 issued 10th October 1940.

1941-- Started teaching at Oklahoma A & M College. Aircraft mechanics certificates #M-64172-41 issued 7 April 1941

1943-45 Aircraft Maintenance Supervisor for Government Flight School, Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 1945, Lewis, his wife Lunora, and their oldest daughter, Robin were living at 511 Hester Street.

1945-46 Self employed, buying and selling surplus wartime aircraft. In the June 7, 1998 Stillwater NewsPress, Steve Clark wrote that for a short time right after World War II, Stillwater had its own "air force...the warplanes-475 bombers and fighters began arriving at Searcy Field in 1945 to be parked until the government could figure out how to dispose of them...All 475 planes were bought by one man: Paul Mantz, the famous air racer and movie stunt pilot who died in the 1960s during the filming of THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX....Mantz paid $55,426 for the whole batch, making most, if not all of his money back by draining the planes's fuel tanks and selling the thousands of gallons of 100-octane gasoline. He kept 12 of the warbirds for himself...Most of the leftovers were sold to a scrap dealer from Wichita, though a few others escaped destructions..." Lewis Payne purchased one of the seven P-51 Mustangs in partnership with another man. At some stage his partner crashed and was killed. Lewis turned his share to the insurance money over to the grateful widow...In 1988 there are 51 of these aircraft still flying and each is worth about hald a million dollars.

1946-Pilot certificate #466435 issued on 19 March 1946

1946-1950 Instructor aircraft mechanic

1950-1952 Quality Control Inspector for Convair Aircraft, Fort Worth, Texas.

1952-61 Aircraft electrical shop supervisor, Arabian-American Oil Company, Saudi Arabia.

1961-1964 Started a retail liquor business in Stillwater, Oklahoma. This was not a success in a town where few people drank.

1964-1965 Downtown Airport, Oklahoma City.

1965-1968 Engineer for Philco-Ford Corporation, Fort Benning; Seychelles; Green Hill; Thailand; Vung Tau, Vietnam.

1968- Maintenance Supervisor, Swan Rubber Company, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

1970-1971 Field Engineer with Philco Ford, worked in Taiwan (9 months) and Iran (6 months) erecting still towers.

Obituary

"Lewis Adair Payne, 84 was a longtime breeder of Arabian horses in addition to being an aircraft mechanic. He was also a retired expatriate engineer.

He died Tuesday, 18 August 1998, at Stillwater Medical Center. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Strode Funeral Home. Private intermment and service will be at a later time in Duncan.

Payne was born March 15, 1914, in Duncan, to Marvin Walter Payne and Grace Ellen Gentry; both the children of Oklahoma Pioneers. He married Lunora McWethy in 1943. She is the daughter of William Meade McWethy and Ethel Arretha Phenis both formerly of Stillwater.

In the last 37 years of his life, Lewis devoted himself to the breeding of Arabian horses in the Stillwater area. His objective was achieve classical perfection in both body type and movement. His artist's eye later resulted in national recognition from a minority interested in the preservation breeding of this fine horse-celebrated by the 4th century B.C. Greeks in the marble statuary of the Parthenon frieze. At considerable cost to him he did not allow the untutored requirements of the market to damage the historic bloodlines of his horses. For a long time he stood alone.

Originally an aircraft mechanic in the later barnstorming days, Lewis was to instruct students in aircraft maintenance for the National Defense Training School during WWII at Searcy Field, the Stillwater airport. From there he spent nine years with his young family in Saudi Arabia working for Aramco. He later became an engineer for Philco-Ford with whom he worked all over the world.

He was a man who expanded his formal university classes with very extensive reading and travel. He last journeyed around the world at the age of 80. His curiousity was wide and his interests were cosmopolitan.

He was predeceased by two brothers, Claude Chadwick Payne and Marvin Walter Payne and one sister, Mary Olive Thompson. Survivors include his wife of fifty-two years, Lunora; two daughters; Robin White of Joplin, Missouri and Penny Harvey of Glencoe, OK; and two grandsons Bracken White of San Francisco, CA and Gentry White of Columbia, MO and grand-daughter Anne Marie Busse of Joplin, Mo.

Memorials may be made to the Stillwater Airport Memorial Museum."

Lewis's ashes were buried on a hill, under an oak tree, with a view of Hell Creek below. The burial site was on the land his grandfather Sam homesteaded and where he himself grew up during his teenage years. There was a brief informal religious ceremony conducted by son-in-law Tom White. Afterwords a picnic was served at the East Wing of the Stephens County Fairgrounds.

(The above is courtesy of Kenneth and Penny Harvey)

Lewis married Lunora McWethy on 8 May 1943 in Pawnee, Pawnee County, Oklahoma. Lunora (daughter of William Meade McWethy and Ethel Arretha Phenis) was born on 10 Feb 1911 in Lorena, Beaver County, Oklahoma; died on 8 Mar 1999 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]