Born July 7, 1915 in Pennsylvania, Pague moved to Southern California as a teenager and later attended the University of Southern California. He left USC in 1941 to become a flight instructor in Windsor, Canada with the Canadian Training Command of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Pague returned to the United States later that year, joining the U.S. Navy as a pilot after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Pague started at Armco in 1945 and is credited with establishing the steelmaker’s aviation department, said Alan McCoy, AK Steel spokesman. He retired in 1980.
“We would like to express our deepest sympathy to Walter’s family, and friends on his passing. His contributions to corporate aviation and the Middletown area went far beyond his Armco duties,” McCoy said.
In addition to establishing Armco’s aviation department, Pague was one of 13 individuals in 1946 who spurred the creation of the Corporation Aircraft Owners Association, now known as the National Business Aviation Association.
“Walter C. Pague was one of NBAA’s ‘founding fathers,’ ” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen in a news release. “His vision and determination helped make possible the association we have today. For nearly three-quarters of a century, he not only served our industry with distinction but embodied the highest qualities to which we all aspire. He was a true giant, one of our industry’s very best.”
Pague also served on the association’s board of directors from 1947 to 1964.
Dick Slagle first came to know his friend through the chamber of commerce in Middletown. Later they both worked at Armco. When Slagle was vice president of administrative services of Armco, aviation was one of the departments that reported to him.
Company planes were important because Armco had facilities all over the country, Slagle said. The pilot was responsible for getting company officials to the job as quickly as possible and safely, he said.
The friends would often go golfing together.
“Walt was always very pleasant to be with,” he said.
Pague’s wife of 59 years, Elizabeth, recalled the many travels to Europe, Africa, Mexico and Asia that the couple took upon his retirement .
The couple flew the Concorde and watched the Paris Air Show among other activities, she said.
Playing golf together was another pastime the couple enjoyed, she said. An accomplished golfer, Pague won the Middletown city tournament in 1955 and made a hole-in-one on No. 15 at Brown’s Run in 2004 at the age of 89.
His zest for life was always evident still evident, his wife said.
“A woman that works at the club (Brown’s Run) told me how she watched him as he walked home from the golf course,” she said. “She said as he passed the tennis court he stopped, opened up the gate, went onto the court and struck a pose of himself throwing a tennis ball into the air and hitting it.”
That was Pague, his wife said.
“He enjoyed life to the fullest,” she said. “He really did.”
Aside from his wife, he is survived by a son, Walter C. Pague Jr. of Virginia
Breitenbach, McCoy-Leffler Funeral Home is handling arrangements, which are pending. A celebration of life is scheduled at Brown’s Run on Aug. 5.
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