Joseph Gerald Cyr (1924-1996)
Biography
Joseph Gerald Cyr was born in Old Town on May 10, 1924 to Albert G. Cyr and Antoinette LaForest and baptized as Gerald Joseph Cyr. He graduated from Old Town High School in 1942. On July 25 of the same year, he enlisted in the Army Air Force under the name of Joseph Gerald Cyr and went by that order of his given names for the rest of his live. In fact, in his early Air Force years he was known as "Little Joe" as he was only 5' 3" tall.
On June 28, 1945 he married Marion Doris Roma (1927-1992), who had just graduated from Old Town High School earlier that year and whose entry in the yearbook even refers to Joseph/Gerald. After the war was over, they remained in Old Town and in 1946 Joseph used his GI-bill to enroll at the University of Maine, from which he graduated with a degree in *** in 1949. The next year, he re-enlisted and joined the US Air Force as a jet pilot. Initially, Marion appears to have lived on Sixth Street in Old Town, but by the mid-1950s the couple seems to have settled in Fort Walton Beach (FL), home of the Eglin Air Force Base. After his retirement, Joseph and Marion remained in the area. Joseph died in ** on October 18, 1996 and was buried in Beal Memorial Cemetery in Fort Walton Beach, FL.
