A senior on December 7, 1941, he was profoundly affected, like all young men of his era, by Pearl Harbor. A movie featuring an aircraft carrier inspired him to enlist in the Navy Air Force on December 3, 1942. Within three years, he went from following a horse-drawn plow to mastering the most sophisticated aircraft technology of World War II. Originally requesting the assignment of torpedo bomber pilot, Forest changed his request to dive bomber pilot on the advice of a man he met through happenstance in a bar while training in Miami Beach, Fla. The man, Mr. Gates, was sole survivor of his squadron shot down during the Battle of Midway. Poised in Corpus Christi, Texas for action in the Pacific Theater, Forest's destiny was altered by the dropping of Fat Man and Little Boy.
In 1947, Forest became a Test Engineer at the Dayton Rubber Company where he helped develop foam rubber and devised endurance tests for all manner of rubber belts. He followed the Test Lab when it transferred to Springfield, Mo., in 1962 and became SpringDay. He was eventually promoted Manager of the Test Lab and served as "night watchman" protecting the lab during an emotionally wrenching strike before he retired in 1984. With an easy, affable masculinity, Forest had the agreeable nature of a middle child, the rugged good looks of a movie star, and the lofty mind of a thinker. He treated people with the respect they were due. He had many passions: golf, music (especially Beethoven, Mahler, and the Hallelujah Chorus), politics, family genealogy, history (especially frontier Ohio and the Civil War), cultivating roses, and following college football, golf tournaments, and wildlife programs. Forest realized his life goal of exploring the natural wonders and unique history of each state except Hawaii. He followed the Trail of Lewis and Clark from St. Louis to the Missouri headwaters, the Oregon Trail from St. Joseph to Fort Laramie, visited the battlefields of Wounded Knee, Little Big Horn, Gettysburg, Chattanooga, Braddock's defeat, Fallen Timbers, and Blue Lick. He especially enjoyed the majesty of the Alaskan wilderness. Imprisoned by the pain of Parkinson's and Congestive Pulmonary Disease in his final years, he never lost his sense of humor or interest in the complexities of life. Bereft by the loss of his high school sweetheart, wife, and companion of 62 years, Novella—"my wife was my life"—he finally transcended this world for the next.
Forest was preceded in death by parents, Hazel Angela (Noffsinger) and Forest Puterbaugh; parents-in-law, Elsie Edith (Bodenmiller) and Jesse Lee Fisher; sisters and brothers-in-law, Cleta (Lester) Rhoades, Lenore (Paul) Finfrock, Evelyn (Waldo) Rhoades, Lois (Larry) Boyer, and Joan (Puterbaugh) Schultz; brothers and sisters-in-law, Stanley T (Bert), Paul, Ivan "Buddy" (Pat), James, and Joel Puterbaugh.
Forest is survived by daughters, Leslie (Puterbaugh) Blankenship and partner Sandoll A. Andromeda, of Columbus, Ohio, and Sherry (Puterbaugh) Davison and partner, Ray Irwin, of Springfield Mo.; brother, Kenneth (Donna) Puterbaugh, of Livonia MI, sisters-in-law and spouses Janice (Fisher) and Chester J. Hocker, of Greenville, Ohio, Jewell (Fisher) and Bob (deceased) Booghier, of Springfield, Ohio, Joann (Fisher) and Ed Owen, of Farmington, N.M., Helen (Paul deceased) Puterbaugh, of Bradford, Ohio, and Peg (James deceased) Puterbaugh, of Piqua, Ohio; and brothers-in-law, Harold (Joan deceased) Schultz, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Chalmer and June Fisher, of Piqua, Ohio; along with many loving nieces and nephews.
Special thanks for the compassion and companionship shown by Hospice nurses and care-givers Cindy, Florie, Jaimie Lee, Rikka, Harry, and John. Thanks to Carolyn Levell for her extraordinary care. Visitation will be Sunday, September 19, 2010, from 6 to 8 p.m., in Greenlawn Funeral Home South, Springfield, Mo., and September 21, 2010 from 6 to 8 p.m., in Stocker-Fralay Funeral Home, Covington, Ohio. Services are under the direction of Stocker-Fralay, September 22, 2010, at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in Highland Cemetery, Covington, Ohio. The family suggests that memorial donations be made to the charity of the donor's choice.