Roll Call Tribute

Harry & Bryant Company obituary
Charlotte, NC
704-332-7133

James Estill Wall
MARCH 18, 1920 – MAY 25, 2018

James Estill Wall, died on May 25, 2018, at SouthMinster Retirement Community in Charlotte.

Mr. Wall was born in Grapevine, Texas, on March 18, 1920, to the late Beulah Estill Wall and Clifford Jenkins Wall. He received a degree in Chemical Engineering and an Officer’s Commission in the US Army Reserve from Texas A&M University in 1940. He went to work for the Procter & Gamble Co. in Dallas, Texas, but was called to active duty in Washington, DC, just after Pearl Harbor on December 14, 1941, and served in the War Department during all of 1942. He transferred to pilot training, finishing on the air base in Sarasota FL where he met his future wife, Helen Hereford on December 24, 1943.

He was shipped to India in February 1944 and flew various models of the P-51 fighter in combat with the 530th Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Corps (the Air Force was not created as a separate service branch until after WWII). He failed to return from his 41st mission on December 6, 1944 in North China and finished the war as a prisoner of the Japanese.

After his release and repatriation to the US, Jimmy married Helen Hereford on January 5, 1946, and then had three children. He then had multiple careers. He spent a few more years with the Procter & Gamble Co. and then went to work for the Celanese Corporation in 1952. He came to Charlotte with Celanese in 1965. Both his daughters were married in Charlotte. He was transferred to the New York Office during that time, but came back to Charlotte when he retired from Celanese in 1979. He then began an 18-year career as the only non-attorney to serve as a Trustee for the US Bankruptcy Court in Charlotte.

Mr. Wall was Past President of the Charlotte Central Lions Club and a long-time member of Myers Park County Club where he and Helen enjoyed lots of parties, dances, and many games of golf. Jimmy and Helen loved international travel and they saw most of the world from Viet Name and Cambodia to Argentina, Kenya to Japan, India to St. Petersburg (Russia), and nearly all of Europe. They also returned to China to the very air base he departed from on his last combat mission.

Mr. Wall is survived by Helen Hereford Wall, his wife of 72 years; Peggy Wall Lafferty (John O, Lafferty, Jr.); Barbara Wall Wilson (E. Meade Wilson, III); James Estill Wall, Jr. (Joanne DiNicola Wall). He has six grandchildren: Margaret Elizabeth (Meghan) Lafferty, Catherine Ann Lafferty, Ashley Meade Wilson (Chelbie Esposito Wilson), Sarah Wilson Tidwell (Nick Tidwell), James Estill Wall, III (Abby Keller Wall), and Erin Taylor Wall. He is also survived by six great grandchildren: Andrew Careins, Trinity Joy Wall, Lucas Cash Tidwell, Maxwell Declan Wilson, Elliott Spencer Tidwell, and Caleb James Wall.

There will be a memorial service will be held at SouthMinster Retirement Community, date and time to be determined. Mr. Wall’s ashes will be placed in the columbarium of The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in York, South Carolina. Memorial gifts may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care, Charlotte Region, P.O. Box 470408, Charlotte, NC 28247 or to a charity of your choice.