John Henry Lobdell's Obituary
John Henry Lobdell, Captain USN (Ret), a resident of Portland, was born in Tacoma, WA and graduated from Stadium HS in 1938. He graduated from the US Naval Academy (Class of '43), and was awarded additional degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School, and California Institute of Technology. A thirty-year Navy veteran of three wars, he served in the Pacific during WWII, participating in the invasion of Guadalcanal aboard the USS Zeilin, and serving on the USS Argonne and USS Cummings. After WWII, he flew radiological reconnaissance missions in PBM aircraft over the first two atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. He served as Commanding Officer of Fighter Squadron 154 flying the F9F from the USS Yorktown. In 1955, he was assigned to the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington, DC and afterwards returned to the Pacific in command of USS Midway Attack Squadron 22 flying the FJ-4B. He also served as Air Operations Officer on three additional deployments. Following four years of command duty at the Pacific Missile Range, Point Mugu, CA, he served at the Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense under the Assistant Director for Space Technology. He retired from the Navy in 1970. After completing an MBA at San Jose University in 1972, he joined Clackamas Community College as a professor of Business Administration. During his fourteen-year career there, he had more than 6,000 students in Accounting, Business Computers, and business sub-disciplines. He established the Oregon Association of Accounting Educators. In 1989, he became involved in an effort that changed the lives of Oregon federal retirees after the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision that showed Oregon was discriminating against roughly 50,000 residents. He and several others led work resulting in a 1998 Oregon Supreme Court decision that terminated federal retirement income taxation for Oregonians and gave tax refunds totaling $343 million. Captain Lobdell was an active member of the Damascus Community Church where he started a Sunday morning Bible reading ministry lasting 28 years. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Lois, daughter, Marilyn Lisowski (Paul), sister Gwendolene Wittman, grandchildren, Darci Lobdell, Benjamin Maish, and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by their son, Dr. John Edward Lobdell (Glinda) and brother Paul Lobdell (Barbara). A Memorial Service will be held at 10am on Saturday, May 10, in the Terrace Auditorium at Willamette View, 12705 SE River Road. Military honors and interment will be at Willamette National Cemetery on Monday, May 12, at 11am. In lieu of flowers, Donations are requested for Damascus Christian Education Foundation, 14251 SE Rust Way, Damascus, OR 97089 or the American Red Cross.
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