Harry "Wes" Wescote Maxson

Harry Wescote “Wes” Maxson, age 82, of Eustis, Florida, passed away on Saturday, November 17, 2018 at Bayview Center in Eustis. He was born April 27, 1936 in Lakeland, Florida, the son of Charles Clarence, Jr. and Coris Annie Shands Maxson.

Mr. Maxson was a 1955 graduate of Lakeland High School. He enlisted in the Naval Reserves in 1954 while still in high school. He attended Memphis State College while in the reserves, and then enrolled in Air Traffic School in Olatha, Kansas in order to get into that division of the U.S. Navy. Following school, he was on active duty stationed at the Jacksonville Naval Air Base, Jacksonville, Florida and transferred to Willow Grove, Pennsylvania for two years. He was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1959 and from the Naval Reserve in 1962.

He was accepted by the Federal Aviation Administration and went to Jacksonville Imeson Airport. He moved to Orlando in 1962 and worked as an air traffic controller at the McCoy Air Force Base Orlando Airport (now Orlando International Airport). He was a member of PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) until 1981. In 1971 he moved to Maitland, Florida and to Eustis in 2006.

He retired in 1992 as an air traffic controller after thirty-three years of service. In 1981, air traffic controllers went on strike. President Ronald Reagan ordered them back to work or be fired. Mr. Maxson was one of only 8 who didn’t strike and kept his job.

Mr. Maxson was a member of the First Baptist Church, Orlando and an avid golfer who helped run the U.S. Olympic Golf Tournaments in the 1990s. He enjoyed water skiing and being with his family on the water.

Survivors include his wife, the former Molly Campbell, to whom he was married on January 1, 1957 at the Southside Baptist Church in Lakeland; one daughter and son-in-law: Jenny and Ron Goins of Orlando; two sons and daughters-in-law: Chris and Lisa Maxson of Palm Harbor, Florida, and Jeff and Kim Maxson of Longwood, Florida; one sister, JoAnn Harrison of Lakeland; eight grandchildren: Alex and Brett Maxson of Palm Harbor, Victoria and Zoe Maxson of Longwood, Amy Noble and her husband, Ben, Katherine Roberts and her husband, Chris, Anna Smilinskas and her husband Vilius, and Daniel Goins, all of Orlando; two great grandchildren: Keith Roberts and Ivy Noble of Orlando; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his half-brother, Shands Bray in 1987.

Memorial services will be conducted at 11:00 AM Wednesday, November 28, 2018 at the First Baptist Church, 1000 East 1st Avenue, Mt. Dora, Florida. The Honor Guard from the United States Navy will conduct military services following the memorial service at the church.

The family requests memorial contributions be made to Africa Inland Mission in memory of Wes Maxson, on the web at https://usgiving.aimint.org/missionary/1047390 or by check to Post Office Box 3611, Peachtree City, Georgia 30269-7611.