Bernard Anthony Rapp - January 6, 2015 Barney was born January 19, 1923 to a family who worked their Southern Illinois farmland with draft horses and strong backs. He worked and worshiped God along side his parents John and Odella Rapp, four brothers and two sisters until the United States entered World War II. Then, like all of his brothers who were of age, Barney joined the armed forces. As a young enlisted man he was assigned to the Air Corps where he exhibited exceptional talent as a gunner. Following his time in training as a gunner and radioman he became an air artillery instructor in B-17 and B-24 bombers. Following many months of this service, the pilots and crew he worked with determined that their chances of survival were at least as good in a combat theater as they were spending hundreds of hours in the air training new fliers. They jointly requested to be, and were, transferred to the 31st Bombardment Squadron in the South Pacific. Barney flew 44 missions there - hours and days of monotony interrupted by brief periods of excitement and terror. He rode two airplanes into crash landings, one of which stranded the crew on a contested Island, where they awaited rescue for a couple of days. He was awarded many citations and medals, including two purple hearts, and narrowly missed becoming an artillery ace by being credited with 4 ½ air victories over Japanese fighters. Barney returned to the States and was preparing for his next rotation as a crewman in the B-29 bomber when the war ended on August 14, 1945. After the war he returned to Illinois where he worked at a variety of jobs and studied electronics at Northwestern. Barney wed Kay Zuroske on January 12, 1946. The union lasted 61 years and resulted in the birth of 3 daughters and 2 sons. Realizing that he needed a stable occupation to support his growing family, Barney found employment as a service rep for Montgomery Ward. The job became a career that lasted 35 years and took the family from Illinois to Phoenix and on to Southern California where Barney capped his career by becoming manager of one of the largest Wards service districts in the country. Upon his retirement, Barney and Kay moved to Douglas County, Oregon where he filled his hours with travel, camping, golf and fixing. His kids thought he could fix anything and they were probably pretty close to correct. He used his talents to keep many of the tools and machines operating efficiently at the Roseburg VA Medical Center where he logged more that 7,000 hours of volunteer service in the repair shops. Barney was the last surviving Rapp of his generation. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Kay, son Stephen, brothers Richard, Jerome, Robert, Victor and sisters Loretta Cook and Marcella. His legacy includes his surviving children and their families, Bernadine Stults of Roseburg, OR, Pam Rapp Brown of Huntington Beach, CA, Janet Fjellbo of Coursegold, CA and Mark Rapp of Tulsa, OK as well as 5 successful grandchildren and 2 ½ (Diane is expecting) happy great grandchildren. Barney will long be remembered for his devotion to God and the Catholic Church, to his family, and to his country. His was a life well lived.