Page 1 - June 2020 - final proof - The Castle Pines Connection

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Volume 12, Number 6
Dedicated to country and family By Lynn Zahorik; photos courtesy of the Castleberry family
This Father’s Day, we honor 94-year-old WWII veteran Solomon Castleberry, who has been a dad for 71 years. Last summer, Solomon and his bride of 74 years, Twilla, celebrated both their grandson Kade’s wedding and the birth of their seventh great-grandchild.
Coming from humble beginnings, Solomon Castleberry Jr. was born in rural Mississippi on September 6, 1925. At the age of 4 and following the death of his father, Solomon, his mother and four siblings relocated to rural Oklahoma, outside the small town of Tryon. In the midst of the Depression, they eked out a meager living share- cropping. During this time Solomon met his future wife and lifelong companion, Twilla, who lived in a neighboring town.
Solomon, who most often goes by “Sol” or “Jr.”, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 and was trained on the B29 bomber. He got his rst glimpse of Colorado when he did some training at Lowry Field in Denver. He deployed to Okinawa toward the end of World War II and was a tail gunner on numerous “cleanup” missions at the end of the war. Solomon recalls being lucky to be alive today. Due to a severe case of mumps, he was scratched from a ight which ended up crashing and killing many of his fellow crew members.
In 1945, Solomon left the Army and started a new life with his bride, Twilla. They were blessed with
two sons, Myron and Mel, who illuminated their lives. They settled in Midwest City, Oklahoma, just a few miles outside of Tinker Air Force Base, where Solomon spent his entire career in missile technology and computer systems as a civilian with the
U.S. Air Force. His work was demanding and involved much travel, but once arriving home, he immersed himself in the joys of parenthood.
Upon retirement in 1973, the Castleberrys moved back to the peace and quiet of
the farming communities where they
had begun their lives. Sol cultivated his green thumb with his vegetable and ower gardens, and his yard was the envy of the neighborhood. He enjoyed playing golf, shing and watching NASCAR. Solomon and Twilla have treasured their time with their family, which has blossomed from
two children into ve grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. “I love knowing that I have been a good example to my children and that has been passed down to
the next generations,” remarked Castleberry.
(Continued on page 13)
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June 2020
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