Retired engineer was Air Force vet, flying instructor

4/15/2004

Harold R. "Slim" Jost, 89, a retired plant engineer for Owens-Illinois, Inc., an Air Force Academy liaison officer, and a sailplane instructor, died Tuesday in the Ohio Veterans Home, Sandusky, from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

Mr. Jost of Ottawa Hills retired in 1978 from O-I, where his duties took him frequently to Japan and Europe.

He received a degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University and, afterward, began a small engineering firm with a friend in Toledo, his wife, Rhoda "Do" Jost, said.

He was in the Air Transport Command of the Army Air Corps in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. He later was a colonel in the Air Force Reserve. As a liaison officer for the U.S. Air Force Academy, he met with area high school students who were interested in the academy. The academy in 1989 gave him its Most Outstanding Liaison Officer Retiree Award and, a decade later, its Lifetime Service Award.

A power plane and sailplane pilot, Mr. Jost joined the then-Toledo Soaring Club in 1953, and he helped oversee the club's move to Adrian. He was a volunteer instructor for 20 years at the Adrian Soaring Club, and he was a co-editor of the club's newsletter. He received the coveted gold pin from the Soaring Society of America in recognition of his 26,000-foot altitude gain in a sailplane near Pike's Peak.

He had been a member of Highland Meadows Golf Club and an amateur photographer.

Mr. Jost's first wife, Virginia, died in 1977.

Surviving is his wife, Rhoda "Do" Jost.

There will be no visitation. Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. April 26 in Hope Lutheran Church, of which he was a member. Arrangements are by the Walker Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to the Alzheimer's Association, the church, or the U.S. Air Force Academy Association.