Obituary for
James Joseph Villalobos
James J Villalobos went to report for eternal duty on September 14, 2017. He died a peaceful death at home due to an acute cardiac debilitation that's been in progress for several months. A couple weeks ago he celebrated his ninety-third birthday with a large family gathering. Jim was a WWII vet who landed at Normandy on D-Day +5 at Utah Beach and was with the army in the Signal Corps and was in Berlin when the war ended. He survived nearly drowning as he left the LST, being strafed on the beach as soon as he reached it, and forays deep into hostile territory during the Battle of the Bulge.
After the war he went into the Civil Service and occupied posts as a director for the US Air Force, a US AID director in Northeast Brazil, director of civilian personnel for NATO in Brussels, and a private consultant in later years. It was easier to name the countries he *hadn't* been to. He was fluent in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole. He met future wife Maria de Fatima de Cunha in the Azores while working at Lages Air Base, and she survives him, along with three daughters, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son James.
Jim was physically strong well into his early nineties, and it's hard to believe that health would ever fail him. But his decline was mercifully brief and he was in full possession of his faculties until his last day. He left this world led by the sound of the music of the Catholic Mass that played during his last hour.
