V. Homer Drissel

V. Homer Drissel, Col., USA, Ret (October 19, 1910—May 5, 2007)

Virgil Homer ("Homer") Drissel was born in Washington, D. C., on October 19, 1910, the fourth child of Roger Shive Drissel and Sara Mabel Horne Drissel. He lived in Washington, D. C. through young adulthood, attending Park View Elementary School and McKinley High School, where he graduated in 1929.

During high school at McKinley Tech, Homer played on the baseball team in 1927, 1928 and was the captain of the 1929 team. He played on the 1927 and 1928 football teams and quarterbacked the 1928 championship team. He also competed on the track team in the one mile relay and the javelin throw.

He attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, VA, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1934. During his time at UVA he played on the football team as both halfback and quarterback. He also played baseball for UVA for three years and was the co-captain of the 1934 team. In addition, he earned a prized trophy as the ping-pong champion of UVA for the same year.

Homer next entered law school at Georgetown University in Washington, D. C., graduating in 1938. Because jobs were scarce in those years, his first employment was with the Railroad Retirement Board as a clerk-typist. There he met the first love of his life, Elizabeth (Betty) Jane Burroughs; they were married in June of 1939. He enlisted in the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant that same year and was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps. He spent the next several years training troops for deployment to the European front; his assignments included Ft. Lee, VA, and Ft. Devens, MA. His first child, Elizabeth Jean, was born in 1943 while he was stationed at Ft. Lee. In 1945 Homer received his commission as Captain in the Judge Advocate General's Department.

In 1948 he was posted to Heidelberg, Germany, where his second child, Geoffrey Denison, was born in 1949. Also in 1949, Homer was appointed to the rank of Major. After two years in Heidelberg, the family moved to Stuttgart, Germany.

Upon returning stateside in 1952, Homer received a plumb assignment to the Headquarters of the Sixth Army at the Presidio at San Francisco, CA. The family lived for several years in "Building 56," an old, single-family frame house built in the late 1800s or early 1900s, a building believed to be still standing. There he taught Elizabeth and Geof to play baseball. He was promoted to Lt. Col in 1954.

In 1957, Homer was sent to Tokyo, Japan, to serve as Staff Judge Advocate with the First Cavalry Division. After a brief period, he returned to the Washington, D. C. area, for a short tour on a military review board. His wife Betty died of breast cancer in 1958.

From there, in 1959 the family went to Ft. Carson, CO, where Homer served as the post's Staff Judge Advocate. For his services as SJA from 1959 through 1961, Homer was awarded the Army Commendation Medal (First Oak Leaf Cluster) for meritorious service. Daughter Elizabeth graduated from Fountain-Ft. Carson High School in 1961.

That same year, Homer received his commission as Colonel, along with a new assignment, this time as Staff Judge Advocate for the United States Army Infantry Center at Ft. Benning, GA. During this period he received a Certificate of Outstanding Service for exemplary performance of his duties and leading the Judge Advocate Section to earn "a position of high esteem and respect in the eyes of the officers and men of the Infantry Center." In addition to his legal duties, he completed a course in infantry weapons, tactics and techniques at the Infantry School, receiving the designation of "Honorary Doughboy."

Of greater importance, however, it was there he met the second love of his life, Lt. Col. Helen B. Brecht, of Crook, CO, to whom he was married in December of 1962. The Colonels Drissel were soon reassigned to the Washington, D. C. area, where, as part of his final assignment, Homer participated as part of a three-man team in rewriting the military courts martial manual.

For his services from August of 1961 to January of 1966, which included his final posting at Ft. Benning as Staff Judge Advocate, followed by service as a Judicial Officer with the United States Army Judiciary, Office of the Judge Advocate General, as the Army member of a tri-service Board engaged the review of the Manual for Courts-Martial and as a Member of a Board of Review in the United States Army Judiciary, he was awarded the prestigious Legion of Merit for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services."

During this period Elizabeth graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL in 1964. Geof graduated from McLean High School in 1967, and from Purdue University in 1972. Elizabeth graduated from the University of Denver College of Law in 1974.

Colonel Virgil Homer Drissel retired from the United States Army in February of 1966.

Following retirement, Homer and Helen lived for a short while in San Antonio, TX, before settling in the Bowmar Knolls neighborhood of Littleton, CO. There followed many happy years of love and laughter, gardening and gatherings with family and friends, Bronco parties, and driving Meals on Wheels for the Volunteers of America.

Fondly remembered are the annual tomato plantings, preparation of the many flower beds, collecting apples in the backyard, and playing in the piles of leaves from huge trees. Not to be forgotten was the ongoing collection and relocation of numerous squirrels to nearby wildlife areas. In addition, the neighborhood was constantly filled with the aroma of homemade chocolate-chip cookies that Homer and Helen so generously shared with all.

In 2000, following Homer's 90th birthday bash, he and Helen moved to a patio home in Shalom Park in Aurora, where Helen passed away in 2001. Homer's final fun event was meeting and posing with his great grandson, Bennett Drissel Fischer, born January 2, 2007. In addition to his family, Homer was lovingly cared for during his final days by the Denver Hospice (formerly Hospice of Metro Denver).

Homer will be buried with full military honors and with his late wife Helen at Ft. Logan National Cemetery in Denver, CO.

Homer is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth Page of Denver, who followed him into the practice of law; his son, Geoffrey, a chemical engineer, of Parker, CO; Elizabeth's daughters, Debbie Page of Marina del Rey, CA, and Maggie Page of Denver; Geoffrey's children, Brian, Greg, and Amy Drissel of Parker, CO; great grandson Bennett Fischer of Marina del Rey, CA; his "kid" sister, Bea Drissel Lewis of Bethesda, MD, as well as nieces, nephews and great (and great-great) nieces and nephews who live throughout the country. He was also dearly loved by his daughter-in-law Debbie Drissel, son-in-law Gary Starritt, grandsons-in-law, Forest Fischer and Harold Ardourel, and special lady Nancy Ness of Lake Wylie, S.C.

Homer will be most remembered as a devoted and loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; an outstanding officer; a loyal and caring friend; a man of passion, dignity and, especially, great humor.

Daddy, we will miss you.

Homer's memorial request was "Crossing the Bar," by Alfred Lord Tennyson:

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.