Jess "Vaughn" BAINTER

BAINTER, MILLER, WHITNEY, FRANKS, COOK

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 10/5/2011 at 09:28:03

Obituary - Jess "Vaughn" Bainter

Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Saturday, August 21, 2004

CLEAR LAKE — Jess Vaughn BAINTER, 81, formerly of Clear Lake, died Thursday (Aug. 19, 2004) at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.

According to his wishes, his body has been cremated.

Jess was born Sept. 6, 1922, on a farm near Zearing, the son of Jess and Fern (MILLER) BAINTER. He attended school in Marshalltown.

He later moved to Mason City, graduating from Mason City High School in 1939.

On visits to Clear Lake, he met Julie WHITNEY and they were married on Aug. 15, 1942, in Glendale, Calif.

In December of 1942, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet, serving as a flight clerk flying out of Hamilton Field, Calif., throughout the Pacific Theatre.

He received the Air Medal for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flights from June of 1944 through October of 1945. The citation reads: "As Flight Clerk on transport aircraft, Corporal BAINTER completed one thousand one hundred eighty-two hours of over-water operational flying, often within combat theatres where enemy fire was both probable and expected.

"The high degree of competence and exemplary devotion to duty displayed by Corporal BAINTER reflect great credit upon himself and the Army Air Forces." During the war years, a son and daughter were born in California. Following the war, the family moved back to Iowa. Jess (known to friends and family as Vaughn) worked as a Standard Oil salesman, as a local radio announcer in Clear Lake and Mason City, and turned to sales, working for "remembrance" advertising firms until his retirement in the early 1990's. A second son was born in Iowa.

Vaughn was known for his positive outlook and outgoing personality. He was a talented natural singer, often performing at sales conventions as well as for family and friends.

As a traveling salesman he was known to have driven one exceptionally reliable car for over 250,000 miles.

After a career in sales in Iowa, and later in California (60's to the 90's) he and his wife returned to Clear Lake. Jess spent the last few years at the Iowa Veteran's Home in Marshalltown.

Jess is survived by three children, Michael V. BAINTER and his wife, Nancy, of Pacific Grove, Calif., Lani M. COOK,of Clear Lake, and Whitney J. BAINTER, of Goleta, Calif., one brother, Wendy BAINTER of Banning, Calif.; two grandchildren, Rebecca FRANKS and her husband, Dan, of Clear Lake, and Matthew COOK, of Santa Barbara, Calif.; and one great-granddaughter, Emma G. FRANKS.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Jess and Fern BAINTER, of Seal Beach, Calif.; and his wife, Juliette Lila (WHITNEY) BAINTER, of Clear Lake.

There will be no memorial service; the immediate family will have a private service.

Memorial contributions from friends and family should be sent to the Humane Society of North Iowa in Mason City.

Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St. in Clear Lake, is in charge of arrangements. Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, (641) 357-2193. www.colonialchapels.com

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2011