Fred Riffie Campbell of Gardendale died Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. Mr. Campbell, 92, suffered from Alzheimer's Disease.

Born Nov. 28, 1930, Mr. Campbell grew up in rural Blount County near Warrior. When he was 16, he took private flying lessons at Draper Field in Decatur. He was well known in the Hayden community as the proprietor of Campbells' Field, a grass airstrip built on the farmland where he was raised. Neighbors frequently saw him flying overhead in his pale yellow Aeronca Champ airplane. The airstrip was popular in the early 1970s as a site for crop dusters to land and reload, and for skydiving hobbyists to gather on weekends. Mr. Campbell gave many people their first airplane rides.

He served two years in the Air Force in the 1950s, when he was stationed for a time in Saudi Arabia. He went on to work for Eastern Airlines until he retired after 31 years. His job involved calculating the weight distribution for airliners, to ensure safe flights

While working at Eastern, he met Beverly Warr. They married in 1960 and had two children, David and Amy. During Beverly's own pilot training, she was killed along with her instructor in an airplane accident in 1970. Fred never remarried, and he grieved for Beverly the rest of his life.

Among the local youths who got their first airplane ride with Mr. Campbell was Joe Ray Daly, who went on to become an airline pilot. One of the greatest adventures of Mr. Campbell's life was when he bought a 1937 Stearman Model 75 biplane. Mr. Campbell and Mr. Daly traveled to Guatemala together to collect the plane and fly it back to Alabama. Mr. Campbell spent 30 years restoring the vintage aircraft. The work was finished in 2017, when Mr. Campbell finally flew in the Stearman again.

In later years, Mr. Campbell was a well-known denizen of The Restaurant at Campbells' Field, owned by his sister, Carolyn Wigley. The restaurant, directly across Arkadelphia Road from the airstrip, was built on the site of the "snack bar" that was popular in the 1970s during the airstrip's heyday as a skydiving destination.

In his final days, Mr. Campbell lived at Home Sweet Home, a Gardendale boarding home owned by his sister Carolyn. His caregivers included Carolyn; his niece Suzanne Crowson and Suzanne's husband Bryan Crowson; Home Sweet Home staff members Sherrie Pierce, Vickie Mucha and Cecelia Cochran; and hospice nurse Ashley DeWeese. He also enjoyed the support and friendship of other Home Sweet Home residents, including Lenier Baker and Mallory Howard. Special thanks go to family friend Jean Matthews, and to Michael Campbell and Reno Cochran for their help in the upkeep of Mr. Campbell's property.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Riffie Robert Campbell and Della Mae Hays; and his wife Beverly Ann Warr.

Mr. Campbell's survivors include his son David Campbell and daughter Amy Campbell Molloy; grandchildren Hayden Campbell Molloy and Caroline Elizabeth Molloy; sister Carolyn Wigley and niece Suzanne Crowson.

Visitation will be Thursday, Sept. 28, 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., at Messmer-Goodwin Funeral Home in Warrior. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. at Messmer-Goodwin, followed by a brief graveside service at Mt. Zion Cemetery in Warrior. Family and friends will gather afterward for refreshments in the Mt. Zion Baptist Church fellowship hall.

Pallbearers are Michael Campbell, Joe Ray Daly, Ricky Beasley, Hayden Molloy, Matthew Crowson, Bryan Crowson, Dylan McMeans, and Clayton Reid. Honorary pallbearers are Randy Hughes, John Carl Acton, and Reno Cochran.