Betty Jane Hiner Carnahan, formerly of Ashland, passed away peacefully Nov. 14, 2017 at her home at Discovery Village, Melbourne, Florida. She was born Aug. 5, 1924 in Ashland.
Betty is survived by daughter Catherine Cole of Hamden, Connecticut; son Harold J. (Lydia) Cole of Satellite Beach, Florida; grandson John (Katherine) Cole of Jacksonville, Florida; granddaughter, Erin (Owen) McBride of Columbia, South Carolina; stepson Thomas (Diane) Carnahan of Fairfax, Virginia; stepgrandchildren Chris (Renee) Carnahan of Fairfax, Virginia, and Mark (Tina) Carnahan of Lorton, Virginia; seven stepgreat-grandchildren; stepson Davis (Barbara) Carnahan of Powell; stepgrandchildren Bryan of Perrysburg, Eric of Cincinnati and Kate Carnahan of Powell; and stepson Stephen Carnahan of Tucson, Arizona.
Betty was preceded in death by her husband of 42 years, Kenneth Carnahan in 2015; her parents, John P. and Edith Norton Hiner; sister-in-law, Betty Lou Hiner; brother-in-law, Richard W. Forbes; and first husband, John H. Cole, DVM, in 1981.
She is also survived by four siblings, Harold L. (Hank) Hiner of Ashland, OH, Donald E. (Geraldine) Hiner of Columbia, TN, Mary Anne Forbes and Henry N. (Norma) Hiner of Ashland, OH.
Betty was a graduate of Ashland High School class of 1942 and Ohio State University in 1946 with a BA in music education.
Betty was a very talented musician gifted with perfect pitch. She was first violin in the Ashland High School Orchestra and the Ashland Symphony Orchestra. Professionally, she performed with the Los Angeles Light Opera Company. Her dedication to music remained constant throughout her life. She not only taught music in the Ohio public schools in Jackson, Massillon, Bellville and Ashland she also directed children and adult choirs in Ohio. After moving to Satellite Beach, Florida, she taught piano, violin and voice well into her 80s. When performing, audiences were entertained with her beautiful singing voice, violin virtuosity and pianistic ability that allowed her to play in any style music, classical to jazz.
Burial along with her husband Kenneth will be in New Pittsburg cemetery at a later date to be determined by the family.
Memorial contributions in Betty’s honor may be given to the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, 401 College Avenue, Ashland, OH 44805; or Vitas Healthcare, 4450 W. Eau Gallie Blvd., Ste. 250; Melbourne, FL 32934.
Kenneth Russell Carnahan, 92, passed away Monday, July 6, 2015, following a 10-month battle with cancer.
He was born on March 7, 1923, in Shelby, a small town in north-central Ohio, the oldest son of Bertha (ne Kilgore) and Russell Carnahan.
Ken graduated from Ashland High School in 1941 and worked at a printing company for a while until World War II and the U.S. Army Air Corps called him away.
Ken initially was assigned to the Field (Pack) Artillery Battalion stationed at Camp Carson, Colorado, where he learned to work with mules being trained to carry 75 mm howitzers over the mountains in Italy. After many long hikes, several kicks from mules and a longing to join the “flyboys” he had seen at nearby Peterson Field, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps and became a navigator. He joined a B-17 bomber crew and found himself in Molesworth, England, with the 303d Bombardment Group. He flew more than 25 combat missions over Germany and France before the war was over.
On returning from Europe, Ken enrolled at The Ohio State University, majoring in electrical engineering. During his time at OSU, he met Jean Louise Weidinger. They were married on June 23, 1946. He graduated in 1949 with a degree in electrical engineering.
Following graduation, he worked for Curtis Wright Corp. (Columbus) and North American Aerospace (Downey, California) before returning to the USAF in 1953. He had a number of assignments in the Air Force, but most of them kept him at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton. Besides working for the Air Force Laboratories, he graduated with a Master of Science from the Air Force Institute of Technology in the late 1950s and found himself in the intelligence community, where he evaluated foreign missile capabilities and vulnerabilities for the Air Force. In the late 1960s, he had a tour at the Pentagon before returning to Dayton. He was a colonel for 33 years.
In January 1973, a car accident claimed his wife, Jean.
Ken became re-acquainted with Betty Jane Hiner, whom he had known in high school, and they eventually married.
In 1976, his next assignment took him to Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, where he headed an Air Force intelligence detachment. It was during that tour that a Russian fighter pilot defected with one of the Soviet’s top-of-the-line fighter aircraft, a MIG-25 (Foxbat). Ken led the intelligence analysis and exploitation of the incident. This became a highlight of his career.
Following retirement, he worked for GTE (Springfield, Virginia), and RCA at Wright Patterson and Patrick AFB in Florida. While at Patrick, Ken designed the system that the Air Force was using to track space shuttle launches at Cape Canaveral. Other assignments found him aboard the USNS Observation Island, maintaining and improving the ship’s large satellite antenna tracking system while it sailed the Pacific Ocean.
Ken retired from the civilian workforce in 2000 in Satellite Beach, Florida, where he and Betty settled. There, they enjoyed the warm weather and dancing on weekends. They were married almost 42 years.
He is survived by his wife, Betty; three sons, Tom Carnahan of Fairfax, Virginia, Dave Carnahan of Dublin, Ohio, and Steve Carnahan of Tuscon, Arizona; stepson, Harold Cole of Satellite Beach, Florida; stepdaughter, Catherine Cole of New Haven, Connecticut; seven grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and brother, Harold Carnahan of The Villages, Florida.
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