Silas R. Molyneaux
Col., USAF, Ret. Of Lockport, NY formerly of Barker, NY husband of Marilyn
Brauer Molyneaux and the late Eleanor Kaltenborn Molyneaux entered into rest
Saturday, October 27, 2012 in Eastern Niagara Hospital, Lockport, NY. He was
born in Houghton, NY April 14, 1916, the son of the late Robert and Pearl
Ingersoll Molyneaux. Silas was a Graduate of Houghton College (BA) and Columbia
University (MA) and received an honorary doctorate from Houghton College. He
began his teaching career at Barker Central School in 1936 at age 20, where he
taught history for five years before moving to Ithica, NY to begin a doctoral
program in education. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted as
an Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Corps. He received his wings in 1943 as a
Second Lieutenant, and became an instructor pilot, training new pilots for the
war effort. At the end of World War II, he was assigned to the US Military
Academy at West Point, NY, as a professor of History and as an instructor in Cadet
flight training. Silas was selected to join the US Air Force at its conception
in 1947, and went on to serve as an Air Base Commander in Japan during the
Korean war. He flew A-26 fighter/bomber combat missions over Korea with the Air
Force 13th Bomb squadron. Following the Korean War, he returned to West Point,
and later became a member of the original group of officers that started the US
Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He taught history and political science
at the Academy, then served at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon before
retiring as a Colonel in 1964. After his retirement from the Air Force, Silas
returned with his family to Barker, New York, and began a new career as
Executive to the President of Buffalo State College, from which he retired in 1978.
He also served the Niagara County Community College as a member of its Board of
Trustees, and was one of the founding members of the NCCC Foundation board. Silas
was a member of the Somerset Masonic Lodge #639 for more than 70 years, and a
member of the Quiet Birdmen since 1954. He was a member of the Faith United
Methodist Church and the Herbert Carr Legion Post in Barker, NY. He also was a
member of Lockport's Lock City Glee Club for several years. Father of Joel (Lynda)
Molyneaux of Omaha, NE and Leslie (Paul) Fuzak of Buffalo, NY. Grandfather of
Ann (Charles) Walcutt, Kelly (John) Vornbrock, Elita and Zakery Fuzak. Bother
of the late Glenn, Max, Evan, and Charles Molyneaux and Roberta Grange. Also
survived by several nieces and nephews.