Wendell Gray Switzer – Vice Admiral, United States Navy

Admiral Switzer wife, Anna Ashley Switzer, and his two sons, John Lamar Switzer, Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy and Wendell Gray Switzer Jr, Lieutenant (jg), United States Navy, each of whom was killed in aircraft accidents, are buried with him in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery.

We are actively seeking additional information regarding the Admiral.


SWITZER, ANNA ASHLEY LAMAR

SWITZER-Anna Ashley Lamar. Died on Friday, March 27th, 1998 after a brief illness at her home in Pensacola, Florida. She was 97.

She was a daughter of Caroline Law Varnedoe and Charles Wilbur Lamar and the widow of VADM Wendell Gray Switzer, USN.

Mrs. Switzer was born in Valdosta, GA September 11, 1900, and moved with her family to Pensacola in 1903 where her father, a banker, soon founded what would become Lamar Outdoor Advertising.

She married in 1924 and traveled extensively during her husband’s 45year Naval career. When they retired in Pensacola, Mrs. Switzer continued her close association with the Navy, and became a community and political activist.

Mrs. Switzer was the first woman named to the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation Board and in 1992 was awarded the Dorothy M. Flatley Award presented by the USS Yorktown CV-10 Association to ”the woman who has come closest to exemplifying Dorothy Flatley’s incredible 55 years of inspirational support as a carrier aviator’s wife, mother, and grandmother.”

Mrs. Switzer was predeceased by her sons LTJG Wendell Gray Switzer, Jr. in 1955 and LCDR John Lamar Switzer in 1959 who were both killed in Naval aviation accidents.

Her husband died in 1970. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Ann Lamar (DeeDee) and Kevin Patrick Reilly of Baton Rouge, Lousiana, & Pensacola, her sister, Mrs. George W. (Mary Lee) Anderson of Washington, DC, 7 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. Funeral services were held Monday, March 30 at 11:00 AM in the First Presbyterian Church in Pensacola.

Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery Monday, April 6, at 2 PM with her grandnephew, the Rev. Lupton P. Abshire of Georgetown Christ Church, officiating. Demaines Funeral Home, Alexandria, VA.

wgswitzer-gravesite-photo-july-2007-001

SWITZER, WENDELL GRAY
VADM USN

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 09/30/1898
  • DATE OF DEATH: 02/03/1970
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 1  SITE 896-A
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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