Carl William “Bill” Pampe
Bossier City, LA – Services celebrating the life of Carl William “Bill” Pampe will be held at 11 a.m. on June 15, 2019 at Broadmoor United Methodist Church in Shreveport. Officiating will be Dr. Greg Davis, Pastor of Broadmoor UMC, and long-time family friend, Benny Vaughn. The family will receive friends following the service in the church foyer. A graveside service will be held June 22 at Oak Hill Cemetery in Parkersburg, Ill.
Bill passed away Friday, June 7, in Shreveport, La., after a long battle with heart disease. He was born March 4, 1943, in Los Angeles, Calif., to Carl Fredrick Pampe and Mary Louise Pampe. The family moved around the country with his father’s geology work, with the majority of Bill’s youth spent in Olney, Ill., and Shreveport, La. He graduated from Byrd High School in 1961, and was a 1967 graduate of Louisiana Tech University.
Bill entered the Air Force in 1968, and graduated from pilot training in Del Rio, Texas. He flew EC-47s in Vietnam, and later flew the KC-135 out of Thailand until the end of the Vietnam War, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross and several Air Medals for his service. He married Air Force nurse Rochelle Deane Crites on Nov. 24, 1970, in Merced, Calif., and the couple had two children, Carl David Pampe, and Carla Ann Pampe, while stationed at Grissom AFB, Ind.
After his wife died of cancer in 1985, Bill raised his children on his own, taking countless numbers of their friends on water ski weekends, mentoring, and even hosting 5 years of Parkway High School Homecoming float building parties at his home. Hundreds of Parkway Panthers from the classes of 1990 and 1991 knew and loved “Mr. Pampe.”
Bill served 21 years in the Air Force, retiring in 1989 from Barksdale Air Force Base, La. A long-time musician, he played tuba for more than 30 years in both the Shreveport Metropolitan Concert Band and the Russtown Community Band in Ruston, La. He enjoyed playing with his son in the Louisiana Tech University Band of Pride alumni band at Homecoming each year.
He also played tuba and bass guitar in various combo groups over the years, most recently with ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’. Bill loved everything about trains, and had an extensive collection of Lionel model trains. He also enjoyed working on his vintage cars and spending the day on the lake or on a campsite at Cypress Lake.
Bill was a long-time member of Broadmoor United Methodist Church, where he ran the soundboard for the traditional service for more than 30 years. He was also active in the Chennault Flight 51 of the Order of Daedalians, at Barksdale Air Force Base, serving for years as treasurer for the aviation fraternity. A 32nd Degree Mason, he was member of both the Shriners and the Scottish Rite.
He is survived by his son, Carl David Pampe, and wife, Victoria, of Joliet, Illinois; daughter, Carla Ann Pampe, of Shreveport, La.; sisters Cheryl Fowler and husband, Tom, of Lake Jackson, Texas; Marcia Pampe, of Houston, Texas, and Debra Peterson and husband, Bob, of Lilburn, Ga. In addition, he is survived by several cousins, nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Mary Lou Pampe, and his wife, Rochelle.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the Chennault Flight 51 of the Order of Daedalians for its high school scholarship fund, P.O. Box 51, Barksdale Air Force Base, LA 71110.
The family would like to offer special thanks to Dr. Jimmy Smith and the entire staff of Advanced Cardiovascular Specialists, the staff of the ICU and Cardiac Care Unit at Highland Clinic, and the Heart Institute of Willis-Knighton North, for their amazing care of Bill through the years.
