Lt. Col. Don Oldis (USAF Ret.)

SIOUX CITY | Don A. Oldis, a longtime resident of Sioux City, passed away Wednesday, July 1, 2015, after a brief illness. Graveside services will be 11 a.m. Saturday in Logan Park Cemetery, with military rites. Mr. Oldis was born in Hinton, Iowa, on Sept. 20, 1924. Mr. Oldis attended Central High School and Morningside College. He worked for the Sioux City Journal after serving in World War II and the Korean War as a fighter pilot, registering over 17,000 hours in P38 and P51 fighters. He continued with his military career in the Iowa Air National Guard and other guard units, at one point assigned to a top-secret mission to carry tactical nuclear weapons as a Russian deterrent in Korea. He was later called up for service in Vietnam. He retired from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1972. He was active in Sioux City journalism and politics in the later 1950s and early 1960s, publishing the Sioux City Press Dispatch newspaper with his late wife, Jean, until a fire in 1962 destroyed the facility. In 1961, he unsuccessfully ran for Sioux City Council in an effort to convert the city to a mayoral form of government from its current city manager structure and reform what he perceived as widespread corruption at the time. Mr. Oldis sued the city for voting irregularities but eventually lost the election to Stan Gregg who went on to become a U.S. Congressman. After moving from Sioux City, Mr. Oldis became a successful realtor in Denver and California and the proprietor of Exxl Real Estate with partner, Eilene Huffman Oldis. In his later years, Mr. Oldis spoke at many veteran events and air shows and was a member of the Military Officers Association of America, the American Legion in Newport Beach, Calif., and the Orange County Freedom Committee. Mr. Oldis is survived by his wife, Eilene; his nine children, Lana Nelson of Cary, N.C., Nanse Payne of Hemet, Calif., Eloise Hall of Calgary, Canada, Jon Lowry of Temecula, Calif., Daniel of Santa Ana, Calif., Jenni Sisk of Santa Ana, Don Oldis Jr. of Winston-Salem, N.C., David of Morrisville, N.C., and Stephanie Gerg of Lake Forest, Calif. He is also survived by his first wife, Betty of Calgary, Canada; 14 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.