William Breen

William Robert Breen, of Quinton, Oklahoma died Thursday December 14th, aged 96. Bill was born in Paterson, New Jersey, November 21st 1927. He was an aviation enthusiast from an early age. He believed he caught the "aviation bug" while his mother, Katherine Breen, attended the Charles Lindbergh ticker tape parade in NYC June 1927, while pregnant with baby Bill. Bill's first job was washing airplanes, becoming a "line boy" at the Teterboro Airport where he got a mechanics license. He grew up in Weehawken New Jersey and graduated from Weehawken High School in 1945. He enlisted in the US Navy at 17 1/2 yrs and served 18 months in WW II. He was serving in the NJ Air National Guard and called into active service where he became a B-29 Flight engineer during the Korean War. After his service to our country, he was employed by Trans World Airlines (TWA) as a flight engineer and copilot for 17 years. He moved to corporate aviation with Beech Aircraft and was a technical advisor for the King Air in Wichita. British Aerospace later hired him as the first US born employee, a Technical Representative for the Hawker 125, a popular business jet in the 1980's and 90's. He met his wife, LuWanda (Dalton) Breen while attending Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa in 1953 and was married in Tulsa later that year. They had 4 children. Bill was the son-in-law of Guy and Glorene Dalton, longtime residents of Quinton, OK. Bill retired at age 67. He obtained his real estate license and helped his son, Bill Breen Jr with his real estate company in Lake Lure, NC. After retirement, he and LuWanda moved to her parents' family farm in Quinton after they passed, to care for her brother, Billy Ray. Bill enjoyed rural life and took pride in keeping his father in-law's antique tractor running for many years. Bill Breen traveled extensively with his aviation profession and was appointed an FAA crash investigator, as he had a keen eye for details, knowledge of complex aviation systems and a sense of things that could go wrong. He took his last airplane ride weeks before his 90th birthday and often told family, the hours or time while flying, was God "turning back the clock". He taught aviation ground school for a Boy Scout Troop in Overland Park, Kansas. His compensation was the use of a J3 Piper Cub, which he flew all over Kansas, taking friends and family for rides. He was a member of a TWA pilot's flying club and he flew his young family on vacations where he was ever vigilant about how much weight the kids had gained over the holiday, forcing family members to leave luggage or ship it home. William Breen celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with LuWanda and family on November 7th, 2023. He is survived by his wife, LuWanda Dalton Breen, Quinton, his daughter Janet Gaume-Wakefield and husband Randy, of the home, daughter Linda Breen, Quinlan TX, daughter Gail Biedermann, Salt Lake City, UT, son William Robert Breen Jr., Bill's Creek, NC and wife Noelia. He is survived by 5 grandchildren, Whitney Fair, James Fair and wife Shannon, Liam Gaume-Wakefield, and Dalton Gaume-Wakefield and husband, Alex and step granddaughter, Holly Haley and husband Ian, and 3 great-grandchildren. A private family service will be held in the coming New Year 2024. William will be interned in the family plot at Quinton Cemetery. He was an active member of the Disciples of Christ and Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, the family recommends a donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

William Breen

November 21, 1927 - December 14, 2023