Wallace G. “Wallie” Huey, 82, a longtime resident of Baker City, died Dec. 19, 2005, at his home with his family by his side.
A memorial service has not been scheduled at this time.
Wallie was born in Topeka, Kan., to Dwight L. Huey and Mary Alta Davis on Nov. 30, 1923.
At the age of 5, he and his mother, father, two sisters and one brother moved to Wendell, Idaho, where he finished his education.
After completion of high school, he joined the U.S. Army Air Force, and he served in England as a supply truck driver.
Upon receiving his discharge papers in November 1945, he returned to Gooding, Idaho, to work as a teller in the Gooding bank while also working in the control tower of the local airport.
In 1951 he moved to Baker City to work for the next 12 years as a postal clerk on the railroad, which ran from Baker City to Pocatello, Idaho. During this time he met his wife of almost 52 years, Patricia Newman, in August 1953. A short time later, on Valentine’s Day in 1954, he married Patricia in a ceremony held in Corvallis. Within eight years they had one daughter, Jolynne.
Wallie was known around town as the “Candy Man.” In 1965 he began his own business known as J&W Sales to supply local grocery stores with candy, cigarettes and a variety of sundry items. During this Wallie was known for his happy-go-lucky attitude, singing and whistling his way through each day.
In later years Wallie was known for his love of airplanes and flying. Wallie received his pilots license and earned his hours flying a Piper Cub. If a plane passed overheard, he would knock anyone in his way to the side so he could see what it was in the sky. He spent many days at the side of the airport watching planes come and go.
Before Wallie passed away, he instilled the love of flying into his granddaughter when he took her for her first flight out of the Baker City Municipal Airport on a cold, foggy day in January when she was 5. Wallie has a very large collection of model airplanes that will find a new home with his granddaughter, who loves them as much as he did.
Survivors include his wife, Patricia; his daughter, Jolynne Welter, and her husband, Todd; one granddaughter, Kyla; a brother, Don Huey of Boise; and several nieces and nephews.
Wallie was preceded in death by his mother, father, two older sisters, a nephew, brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Memorial contributions can be made to Pathway Hospice or to the charity of one’s choice in care of Gray’s West & Company, P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, December 30, 2005
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor