Christopher Clive Haberman-Wilson

Chris Haberman-Wilson was born in London, England during World War II. His home was bombed, as were many others, and the government decided that all young children needed to be evacuated. He was sent to Wales with his sister for two years. He was reunited with his mother several years later and grew up in Dawlish, a seaside town on the south coast of Devon.

He loved wood-working, loved cross country running, and exceled in music. He sang in the choir at St. Michael's the Archangel to earn some spending money. He delivered papers and groceries before he went to school. He was the "lead boy" in his prefect when he graduated. The Royal Air Force recruited him and he was off to Boy Entrant College. He trained as an aircraft communications engineer. When he graduated, he was assigned to various bases in England, the Shetland Islands, Singapore, and Germany to calibrate the Instrument Landing Systems and other communication equipment. He was always willing to be one of the participants in a RAF helicopter rescue exercise, being dropped into the sea and hoisted back into the copter.

After a 15 year commitment to the RAF as a Sargeant Technical, he left to pursue a career in private industry with Air Radio. He traveled to Abu Dhabi where he enjoyed racing sailing boats when not working. He spent several years in Angola before taking a position as a program manager with Wilcox International. When he came to Kansas City as the Program Manager of the program in Turkey, my dad introduced to him to me at the airport. I was just there to pick up dad, really, I didn't remember him. Short story, the next year I was hired the contract analyst on his program, working off a punch list and trying to collect the contractual monies owed the company.

I moved to take a position with McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis and he followed. Chris worked as a Financial Program Manager on the Saudi Peace Sun program. He ran a really successful program, and worked to successfully negotiate and execute profitable contracts. He completed his MBA and eventually retired in 1995.

Chris and I enjoyed "Volksmarching", completing 10K trails, biking, and swimming. We were off to an event virtually every weekend. We walked approximately 20,000 miles in all the U.S states with the exception of Hawaii and Alaska. He loved his schnauzer mix dog Giovanni and all of his 11 greyhounds. He enjoyed reading, listening to classical music, and obviously traveling. We returned to the Kansas City area in 1999, when my dad became ill and have lived here for the past 23 years. But he loved to travel and particularly enjoyed wintering in Florida, where we walked the beaches and grilled steaks at night as the sun set.

There are no words to explain his passing. We were married 41 years. Enjoy heaven, my love. You were called by Queen Elizabeth to welcome her home. You will be so missed.




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