William Nowell Haggard, 89 died Friday, July 24, 2009, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle in Columbus, MS. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Funeral Home. Visitation will be held at Memorial Funeral Home on Monday, July 27, at 2:00 p.m., funeral at 3:00 p.m. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery in Louisville, MS. Nowell was born on January 1, 1920, to the late John William and Sarah Whitehead Haggard in Elison Ridge , Winston County, MS. He graduated From Elison Ridge High School in 1937 and attended MS State University and East MS Jr. College where he received his private Pilots License. He entered the Army Air Corps a month after Pearl Harbor as a Flying Cadet. After completing flight school he was a flight instructor at Walnut Ridge, AR Army Air Corps base. Subsequently he flew over 50 missions as a fighter pilot from bases in France, Belgium and Germany. After leaving the military in 1946, he founded a flight service in Louisville, MS. He joined Mitchell Engineering Co. (later Ceco) in 1947 and moved to Columbus in 1950. He left Ceco in 1967 and founded Allied Steel Buildings and formed a partnership with C.A. Hall, a manufacturer of metal buildings in Belzoni, MS. Nowell was a member of First Baptist Church and Dr. Platts Sunday School Class. He helped write the original zoning ordinance for the City of Columbus and served on the Board of Adjustments and Appeals from its inception to the present time. In addition to serving on the colonels staff of both Gov. Paul B. Johnson and Gov. John Bell Williams, he also served eight years on the three member MS State Aeronautics Commission where he was instrumental in getting the original funding for Golden Triangle Regional Airport. Nowell is survived by his wife pf nearly 64 years, Otera Bennett Haggard; daughter and son-in-law, Jayn and Harold Kushner of Birmingham; granddaughter Gaije Kushner of Birmingham, grandson and granddaughter-in-law Caith and Anna Kushner, great granddaughter , Amalia Kushner; sister Walden McBrayer of Preston, MS and a number of nieces and nephews with whom he cherished a close relationship. Nowell was preceded in death by his parents, John William and Sarah Haggard, his sisters Minnie Mae Reed and Pauline Etheridge Landrum; his brothers Metz Haggard and Robert Haggard. Pallbearers will be: Ray Gore, Jennings Cox, Claude Carter, Charles Harmon, Jim Davis, and Sammy Platt. Honorary Pallbearers will be: Dr. Robert Myers, Charles Walden, J.W. Furr, George Smith, Clayton Richardson, Dr. Walt Porter, and the members of Dr. Platts Sunday School Class.
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