Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel J Elwood Spaulding of Wheatland, WY. Died August 8, 2018 of complications from Alzheimer’s. J was born March 27^th, 1926 in Laramie, WY and graduated from Laramie High. He helped his family with vegetable farming and forestry in the Pouder Canyon.

In 1943 at the age of seventeen he joined the Army Air Corp. He excelled as a pilot and loved serving his country in the Air Force with the 173 D Squadron. He flew many highly technical missions in WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He was stationed all around the world including his favorites Iran, Spain, and Japan.  During his travels he collected art and artifacts, mostly as gifts for his beloved wife, Maxine and cultivated a love for photography.

After retiring from the Air Force, he settled in Fort Washington, Md. and began his career at FEMA.  He used his photography skills to photo-document disaster areas and assisted in determining what relief was needed.  He also helped establish FEMA’s cutting-edge field computers and transition to a digital age all while working out of the office in the White House.

He was proceeded in death by his parents OJ Spaulding and Stella Olivia Moede Spaulding; his wife Maxine Helms Spaulding; his stepson Bill Tomlinson Jr.; and his sister Eleanor I. Spaulding Workman.

He leaves behind his nieces Jill Knight and her husband Dennis Bakken and Janice I. Workman.

J has been cremated and will be inurned at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia forevermore with his wife Maxine Spaulding.