Lowell “Pete” Hensley

Funeral services for Chief Master Sergeant Lowell Clyde “Pete” Hensley, 93, Paris, Missouri, formerly of West Plains, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Thursday, January 5, 2017 in the Rose Chapel at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.

Mr. Hensley passed away at 3:10 a.m., Sunday, January 1, 2017 at Monroe Manor, Paris, Missouri.

He was born May 22, 1923, at Elijah, Missouri, to Walter Hensley and Vernie Davis Hensley.  He attended grade school at Pottersville, Missouri and graduated from Bakersfield High School.  On August 20, 1946, he was married at Salem, Arkansas, to Rachel Harris.  Mr. Hensley was a veteran and a charter chief, having served with the United States Air Force; he traveled the world during his military career, living in Japan, Norway, France and Spain before his retirement to West Plains, Missouri in 1967.  Lowell later worked part time as a bus driver for Fairview School while building the family a new home; much later he worked at Schwegman Office Supply, before retiring again to his small beloved farm on K Highway.  He was an extremely private and shy man, a man of tremendous integrity and quiet humor.  He was the rock of his family, always there for anyone needing a helping hand.  Lowell loved to read and travel.  After retirement, he and Rachel motored across the United States in their motor home for several years.  He enjoyed camping at the lake and fishing; best of all he loved time spent with family at home and puttering around his small farm.  Mr. Hensley was a faithful member of the Curry Street Church of Christ for over fifty years.

He is survived by his wife of seventy years, Rachel Hensley; two children, Jerry Hensley and wife, Eva and Betty Hunter and husband, Robert; four grandchildren, Amy Patillo and husband, Richard, Tia Bruce and husband, Jordan, Sara Hill and husband, Benjie and Matthew Hensley; six great-grandchildren, Jackson Bruce, Grayson Bruce, Boston Patillo, Adeline Patillo, Addi Hill and Anna Hill; and five sisters, Charlene Huffman, Shirley Callahan, Violet Losh, Barbara Sue Lee and Mildred Rutan.

His parents, one brother, Thurman Hensley and three sisters, Ruby Huffman, Dorothy Spencer and Irene White, precede him in death.

Mr. Hensley will lie in state from 5:00 until 9:00 p.m., Wednesday, at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Oak Lawn Cemetery.  Memorial contributions may be made to Ozarks Honor Flight and may be left at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.