Carlyle Ramon Hedden of Fayetteville, Ga. passed from this life on September 5, 2015.
He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Sybil Richardson, and his four children, Eric Hedden, Carla Hutto, Julia Denton and Albert Hedden, as well as eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Captain Hedden retired from Eastern Air Lines in 1988 after 31 years with the company, during which he piloted the Martin 404, the Convair 440, the DC-7, all three models of the Constellation, the L-188 Elektra, the Boeing 727, the DC-9, the Boeing 757 and the Airbus A-300.
Prior to his career at Eastern, he was a civilian instructor of military pilots at California Eastern Airways, training pilots on the T-6, the T-34 and the T-28. He was a Navy veteran, having enlisted in the military shortly before the end of World War II.
He served for many years as an elder at Greenbriar Church of Christ, and was a member of Middle Fayette Church of Christ at the time of his death. His family will remember with gratitude his love for God, his wise counsel in the faith, his exemplary generosity and his devotion to his wife and family.
Mr. Hedden was an Eagle Scout who served as a Packmaster for his son’s Boy Scout Troop. He was an avid outdoorsman, a skilled archer and an advocate of the Bill of Rights, particularly the Second Amendment. His sons will remember fondly many happy hours spent at “The Nocking Point,” the family’s rustic cabin at Lake Sinclair, Ga. In addition, his children and their friends enjoyed flying with him in his Aeronca Champ, one of the first planes he learned to fly, wherein they could occasionally persuade him to perform a stunt or two.
Mr. Hedden passed on to his children and grandchildren a deep love of literature and music, including a particular fondness for Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and the Broadway musicals Camelot, Man of La Mancha and Phantom of the Opera. His favorite song was “The Impossible Dream.”
He is buried at the Knights of Pythias cemetery in Russellville, Ala., near the home where he was born and lived during childhood. A memorial service is planned at Middle Fayette Church of Christ at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 19.
