 A resident of Sausalito, California, he was a 1941 graduate of the University of Oregon and was married with three children.His wife, a flight attendant for Pan American Airways, was due to meet up with him in Honolulu during a layover.Second officer William H. Fortenberry, acting as pilot-navigator on the flight, had worked for Pan Am since 1951 since graduating from Spartanburg Community College in South Carolina.