Henry Nosek

Henry Nosek

Was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 22, 1921 to Adolf and Marie Nosek, Czechoslovakian immigrants.

When he was fourteen years old, his parents moved Henry, along with his younger brother, Stanley, and younger sister, Mildred, to San Diego, California. When World War II broke out, Henry joined the Army Air Corp and over time became a three war veteran ~ World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. After retiring from the Air Force in 1966, he moved up to Alaska and worked as a Bush Pilot in Fairbanks before branching out and starting his own businesses ~ Willow Air Service and Willow Lodge on Willow Lake. He also started a flight school for Bush piloting. When he sold his business, he traveled and took military hops overseas clear up into his early 90’s — by himself! It was his mission in later life to travel to Czechoslovakia to obtain family genealogy. He was also very proud to have taken the Honor Flight Alaska in October 2014. Then a couple health issues came about and he moved down to California to be close to family, and eventually after a few moves, wound up in an assisted living facility in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was here that Henry passed away peacefully with family members by his side on August 6, 2018. He was 97. A memorial was held in Willow, Alaska on June 22, 2019, what would have been Henry’s 98th birthday. In attendance were friends from Florida, Minnesota, Wasilla, and Willow along with family members from New York, Tennessee, Arizona, and California. Being a three war veteran, bush pilot, and world traveler, Henry had some great stories to tell and many of those stories were shared at the memorial. He will be missed, but not forgotten~