Arthur West, Jr.

Arthur Noble West, 93, born on March 24, 1921 passed away peacefully of natural causes on January 11, 2015.  The funeral service 11:00AM Thursday at Corinth United Methodist Church.  Officiating will be Revs. Bill Spencer and Carolyn Sims.  Burial will follow in the church cemetery with military honors. Arthur was born in Four Oaks, North Carolina.  His family moved to Raleigh after he was born. There he had his first entrepreneurial job with a paper route.  After the Depression, the family moved back to their family farm near Four Oaks where he finished high school and served as class president at Four Oaks High School. He served in the Army Air Corps 15th Air Force, 455th  Bomb Group, 742nd Squadron as a bomber pilot flying 16 combat missions over Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and France including the last heavy bombardment mission over Europe. He returned to Four Oaks and served in the Air Force Reserve. He received an honorable discharge from the service, as Captain.  For the next few years he worked instructing pilots in Kinston, North Carolina and then transferred to Georgia where he taught jet pilots.  During his career Arthur trained over 200 pilots.  Arthur’s WWII biography can be found in the Johnston County Heritage Center Museum in Smithfield, N.C. From Georgia he returned to Johnston County to live and use his entrepreneurial skills where he constructed bomb shelters and then ran a septic tank business for 23 years.  After leaving this business he went back to his love of flying. He provided flying training, charter flights, and plane rentals at the Johnston County Airport into the 80’s.   His final entrepreneurial adventure was repairing and selling computers.  He did this for about ten years. In his earlier days, he served as President of The Methodist Men’s Club and was instrumental in building the new Corinth United Methodist Church. Arthur enjoyed playing golf, fishing, and hunting.  His golfing grew to three times a week during his mid-life.  He was always very inventive and loved to build.  He constructed a pea sheller, bird houses, boats, and barns.  He was also a fair mechanic and would repair most all things mechanical. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Dorothy Mae Rhine West; their three children, Donald Ray West, Dorothy Denise West-Smith, and Danny Eugene West; four grandchildren, Donald Richard West, Jennifer Denise Wilkerson, Jessica Danielle Smith, and Ian Michael Smith; and three great grandchildren, Sienna West, Emma Rose Wilkerson, and Logan West. Family will receive friends on 6:00PM-8:00PM, Wednesday at Rose and Graham Funeral Home in Four Oaks. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Corinth United Methodist Church, 4170 Hwy 301 South, Four Oaks, N.C. 27524. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.roseandgraham.com