RAPID CITY- Norman Ted Whitehead was born on September 5, 1945 to Charles (Bill) and Luceil (Beckham) Whitehead in Tulsa, OK.  He passed on April 2,2023 at home in Rapid City, SD.

He attended grade school and high school in Tulsa. As a child he spent nearly every summer on the Beckham farm with his grandmother near Oilton.  He spent a lot of time fishing with Bill and Lucy and hunting with Bill and his Uncle Russell in Kansas.

He attended Miami Jr College for a year and then enlisted in the Air Guard.  With the Air Guard, he went to Air Police School and served in Tulsa Air Guard.

In 1967, he married Darlene Ferlin, that marriage was blessed with two children, Angela and Lloyd.  That same year, he transferred from Air Police to the Medical Air Evacuation Unit with the Guard.  That is there his love for flying happened as well as caring for those injured in war.

Ted started helping out his Dad at Brookside Glass in 1959.  He was there part time until 1978 and then fulltime with his Dad until he bought the shop in 1982. The shop remained in the family until 1993.

While owning the Glass shop he remained in the Air Force Reserves and flew Air Evac Missions out of Yokota, Japan while Vietnam was going on.  He said he felt most rewarded when flying those missions.

It was during his Air Evac missions that he met LoRayne.  They flew many missions together and were married in 1982.  Ted remained with the Air Force Reserves flying Air Evac until he retired in 1990 with 2176 hrs of flying in a C-141 aircraft.

Ted was very involved with the Church Soft ball team.  The Bethany team wasn't just a wonderful group of guys but it was a family of wives and children who got together at each game.  He was the pitcher.  The only time he missed a game was when Travis was born.

Vacations were spent deer hunting in South Dakota with LoRayne's family or snow skiing in Colorado.  Yes, LoRayne taught him how to snow ski.  Of course, there is the National Women's Soccer team that is followed so trips to the World Cup Soccer games in Germany and Canada were a must.

In 1997, the family moved to South Dakota where he spent the remaining years.  He remained in the glass business until his retirement.  Retirement was to quiet ,he started as a seasonal employee at Mt Rushmore which turned into full time until 2014 then part time until full retirement in  2018.

As his health started to decline Ted and LoRayne decided that the winters were too much in SD. They bought a 5 ^th wheel trailer and traveled to Arizona for the winters.  There he could enjoy the warmer weather and worked part time in the post office of the resort they stayed in.  When traveling back and forth became too hard, it was time to settle back in SD.  There he finished out the remainder of his days with visits from close friends and family.  Always enjoying the time spent catching up with all who stopped by.

He is survived by his wife, LoRayne and three children, Angela Rankin (Richard), Lloyd all of Tulsa, OK,  and Travis (Virginia) of Port Orchard, WA.  Four grandchildren, Chaz, Alexandra and Chloe Tackett and Tyler Whitehead all of Oklahoma.   He is preceded by his parents, brother Charles Leon and LoRayne's parents.

In lieu of flowers Memorials can be made in Ted's name to the Monument Hospice House.

Visitation will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, 2023 at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 21, 2023 at the Funeral Home.

Burial, with full military honors rendered by the Ellsworth Air Force Base Honor Guard will follow at 1:00 p.m. at Black Hills National Cemetery.