William Thomas "Bill" Woolfolk Jr., 77, of Orange County passed away peacefully, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012, at his residence on the farm where he grew up.
Born June 5, 1935, in Richmond, he was the son of the late William Thomas and Meredith Kendall Woolfolk.
Mr. Woolfolk was a member of Macedonia Christian Church, where he served as a deacon and a trustee. He was an Air Force veteran, and a member of a ham radio group and an experimental airplane group.
The spark that ignited his lifelong love of flying came when he was a young boy on a family visit to St. Louis, where he took a ride in a small plane. He later took flying lessons at the Gordonsville airport and was waiting for his 15th birthday to fly solo and continue his flying lessons in order to get his private pilot's license.
He graduated from Orange high school in 1952 and enrolled at the University of Richmond as a premed student. When he turned 18 he left college and joined the Air Force, where he became a fighter pilot in the 324th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts. In 1960, when that squadron was disbanded, he was offered a desk job. He left the Air Force and went to work for Capital Airlines, which was later taken over by United Airlines. There he finished his distinguished flying career. Soon after retiring, he started building his own airplane, an RV-6, which he flew as long as his health permitted.
He is survived by his wife, Sue Woolfolk of Orange; son Charles Thomas Woolfolk and wife Marsha of Orange; three grandchildren, Meredith, Bili and Dakota Woolfolk; and a dearly loved cousin, Jean Kraft Graves.
A service will be held at
The family requests that in lieu of flowers memorial contributions be made to Macedonia Christian Church Building Fund, c/o Jenny Graves, 18000 Zachary Taylor Highway, Orange, Va. 22960.
Preddy Funeral Home, Orange is in charge of arrangements.