Arkansas Online

JONESBORO — Frederick William Nolte Jr.

of Jonesboro, known to everyone as Bill, left this earth on January 11, 2023. He had arrived on August 31, 1935, in Bradley, Ark., to Fred, Sr. and Faye Nolte.

He grew up on the farm, and early on developed a love of the outdoors, hunting and fishing and living the life that boy’s dream of flights in a cousin’s biplane set him on course for a life in aviation, and as a young man he was accepted into the military’s flight training program. A chance accident during a volleyball game one afternoon ended his time in the Navy; were it not for that he wouldn’t have met his love Shirley, and the rest, as they say, is history. They were married, had two sons, and lived a wonderful life together. He began a 40-year career in the Federal Aviation Administration that would make ‘Fox Willy’ a legend among pilots all over the central United States. His attitude every day was to help them in whatever way they needed. Sometimes that meant sitting at a radar screen and talking them through a break in a line of thunderstorms in real time while they were in flight. He developed close friendships with many pilots. Occasionally he would be sitting in a restaurant far from home and hear someone call out “Is there someone named Fox Willy in here?!?” after a pilot he’d never met face to face overheard and recognized his distinct south AR accent. His passions included gardening, photography, and computers (the kid who witnessed the arrival of electric lighting at his house grew up to become the computer ‘guru’ for a lot of people). His travels included missionary service in Africa, and a trip to China. His words and actions reflected his belief in the Bible and what it teaches us about love and forgiveness – other people’s lives were forever changed because of how he “walked the walk”. He was devoted to his family, and very generous with many others. He led an amazing life, doing things and going places that most people only dream of (how many of us can honestly say that we have landed a plane on an aircraft carrier?).

We are going to miss him so much. He leaves behind his sisters Linda and Joan, his sons Joel and Todd, his ‘adopted’ kids Lijie Zhou and Hongyan Li, and four grandchildren.

Visitation at his life’s celebration will begin at 10 a.m., on January 28th at Central Baptist Church in Jonesboro. The funeral service will follow at 11 a.m., with Bro. Larry Bailey officiating.

He will be buried next to Shirley in Walnut Hill Cemetery in Bradley at noon on January 29th.

Online registry: www.emersonfuneralhome.com

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2023-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

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