Sunday, family and friends celebrated Marion "Mooney" Williamson's 100th birthday.
Mooney was the youngest of three brothers that grew up in Newton Park in Norfolk, now a parking lot for the former Ford Assembly Plant.
His family owned the land that was sold to the City of Chesapeake to build Oscar Smith High School, where the family cemetery still sits, and where kids eat lunch by the headstones.
Mooney was a race car driver in the early days of NASCAR, and his family said he even raced at Daytona!
He and his two brothers served at the same time in World War II, and Mooney was a celestial navigation instructor and pilot, later training future pilots.
His family says "he once lost a Beech 18 plane engine over the Gulf of Mexico and had to make it back to Biloxi, Mississippi with only one engine. He never had a co-pilot, only a Chinese interpreter to train Chinese navigators in the co-pilots seat. There were also 3 cadets onboard that day and he landed the plane safely. His commanding officer praised him for 'keeping his cool.'"
After Mooney's military service, he owned an auto repair shop in Chesapeake. When he sold the shop, he started building jet propelled fiberglass ski boats.
"He loved being on the water and often bragged about water skiing at 100 miles per hour," his family said. "He was the first on the East Coast to "Hang 10" from a kite behind a ski boat."
In 1974, at the age of 51, Mooney joined the Civil Air Patrol. His family says he built three airplanes that he used to take aerial photos and two helicopters for recreation.
Mooney served as a Lock Master and Bridge Tender at the Great Bridge Locks and Centerville Bridge well into his 80s.
He married his wife of 74 years, Betty Williamson, in 1945. She passed away in 2019.
What a life to live, happy birthday Mooney Williamson!
