Robert Fain

Robert Snead "Bob" Fain, 92, of Mexia passed away February 29, 2012 at his home in Mexia. Funeral services will be 11AM, Saturday, March 3, 2012 at the First United Methodist Church with Cox Robert "Bob" Crider and Rev. Kory Koch officiating. Interment will follow in the Mexia Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be 5-6:30 p.m., Friday, at the funeral home. Bob was born in Cleburne, Texas on March 30, 1919 to Pat Fain and Tommie Bernice Snead. He graduated from Mexia High School in 1936; attended Westminster College for one year and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he finished his degree work after the war. When war broke out, Bob joined the United State Army Air Corp. He was sent to California for Air Cadet Training. After Pearl Harbor, he was sent to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio to test fly B-25's in preparation of the Tokyo raid. Several classmates from the Air Cadets were part of the Tokyo raid. After training was completed, he was assigned to take four B-25's to Brazil to search for German U-boats along the South American coast, as well as to train pilots. He was commissioned to be the 1st Squadron Leader of the 501st Black Panthers in the 345th Bomb Group known as the Air Apaches. After returning to Columbia, South Carolina, he flew a squad to New Guinea to be a part of the Pacific Theatre. While a squadron leader he personally flew 57 missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal, the American Theater Campaign medal and the Asiatic-Pacific medal with 2 Bronze service stars. While in New Guinea, he was promoted to Major at the age of 24, one of the youngest of the US Army Air Corp at that time. After flying in the Pacific Theatre, he was transferred back to the states, where he married Nelle X. Owens, from Columbia, South Carolina in 1944. He remained in the Army Air Corp until the war was over. He joined Pan Am Airways as a pilot, flying from Miami to South America. After a brief period, he re-entered the US Air Force as a Lt. Colonel. While in the Air Force, he was transferred to LSU as an ROTC instructor for Air Science. He served in various capacities while at LSU and earned his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration via correspondence from the University of Texas in 1952. At the same time, he was requested to move to the Pentagon in Washington, DC, his father, Pat Fain, asked for him to return to Mexia to run his cotton compress. He returned to Mexia in 1954 but remained in the Air Force Reserves stationed with the Strategic Air Command at Carswell Air Force Base. He and Nelle raised four sons in Mexia. He operated Mexia Cotton Compress until 1962 at which time he opened Mexia Bulk Feed and Fain Feedlot. He ran these businesses until 1975. He opened Bob Fain Real Estate Company in 1974 and continued this enterprise until his retirement in 1986. Nelle O. Fain died in 1994. He married Lady Pearson Carter in 1996. Bob was active in civic and community affairs for many years. He served both as a member and as president of the Mexia School Board. He was instrumental in the building of the present high school in 1968. He was a member of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Mexia Rotary Club. He was a founding member of the Mexia Industrial Foundation and served as a Chamber of Commerce Director. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church. He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Nelle O. Fain; and sister, Patti Fain Smith. Bob is survived by his wife, Lady Carter Fain; four sons, Robert S. Fain, Jr. and wife, Sandra of Billings, Montana, Thomas H. Fain and wife, Anita of Issaquah, Washington, Pat O. Fain and wife, Candy of Corsicana, Texas and Bruce F. Fain and wife, Patty of Billings, Montana; two step-children, Elizabeth Odom and husband, Paul of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Nancy Didier of Newton, Kansas; 19 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; a nephew, Robert P. Smith of Mexia as well as nieces and nephews in South Carolina, Florida and Texas. Those serving as pallbearers will include his sons. Honorary pallbearers will be the Upper Room Sunday School Class at FUMC and the Men's Prayer Breakfast. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Mexia Academic Sweater and Scholarship Fund, First United Methodist Church or any Veteran Charitable Fund.