William Lyle Ebert
d 2024
Biography as of Jun 02, 2025
Retired Col Air Force 90: Command Pilot:
08: Vice President, Ferrari Club of America;
08: Vice President/Dir Ferrari Club of America VA;
04-06: ProgramManager Rockwell Collins
B-52 Simulators Sterling VA;
02-04: Project Manger/Director Program Management
Wave Crest Labs, Dulles VA;
01-02: Mgt Consultant, Windward Consulting Group,
Herndon VA;
00-01: Director of Operations, Core Software Tech, Tyson Corner VA;
91-99: Pgm Mgr RSI Tech Products Dulles VA;
86-90: Chief Aerospace Div DMA FairfaxVA;
85-86: C US Liaison Officer Tunisia Embassy Tunis Tunisia;
84-85: Defence Language Institute;
81-83: T-46 Acquisition Mgr Hq Air Training Command
Randolph AFB;
77-81: Sec Cmdr/OpnsO
37 Flying Training Sq / C Simulator Operations/Chief Flight Operations 14FTWg
ColumbusAFB;
73-77: Contractor Admn AF CMD/Chief
Subcontr Mgt Div Northrop AF PRO Hawthorne- CA;
71-73: Instructor Pilot 549 Tactical Air Support Training Sq Eglin AFB, Auxiliary Field 9 (Hurlburt Field);
69-70: Forward Air Controller 20 Tactital Air Support Sq DaNang AB South Viet Nam;
64-68: Instructor Pilot/Academic Instr 3575Pilot Tng Sq/3576 Student Sq Vance AFB, OK;
63-64: Undergraduate Pilot Training Moody AFB, GA;
1DSSM-2MSM-10AM-1AFCM
OBITUARY written by daughter Laura:
William “Bill” Lyle Ebert died peacefully on Saturday, September 7, 2024, at the Shenandoah Senior Living facility in Front Royal, Virginia.
Bill was born in Trenton, NJ as the 3rd of 4 children to Adolph and Helen Ebert. Bill is preceded in death by his brothers Robert and Don. His sister, Matilda “Millie” still lives in her beautiful home in, Yardville, New Jersey. His wife Betty lives in Leesburg, VA. and Laura (Harman) lives in Gainesville, VA with her husband, Alex, and 3 kids, Ella, Pierce and Ryder
Bill grew up attending the Hungarian Reformed Church in Trenton, NJ where is mother was an active member and where his daughter, Laura, was baptized. He continued his religious journey with this wife and daughter at Fairfax Presbyterian Church for several years when they moved to Northern Virginia.
Following his high school years, Bill attended the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he graduated in 1963 and was commissioned to the United States Air Force. Bill served as a Pilot in Vietnam where he flew the Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, a light-attack and observation/reconnaissance aircraft. He loved flying and at the young age of 5 knew he wanted to be a pilot. His tenacity and work ethic made that possible!
Throughout his Military career, Bill and his family lived in California, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tunisia (Africa), Germany, and Virginia. Bill later received a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1980. Bill retired as a Colonel in the United States Air Force in 1992 after serving more than 30 years as a Pilot, Pilot trainer, and Program Manager.
In 1969, Bill married Elizabeth “Betty” Ann Hargett in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Funny thing was, Betty was a hippie type artist who feared flying and did not support the Vietnam war. No one thought they would last. Well, they did for 55 years! They were having so much fun in life together and enjoyed each others company so much they took their time in having a child. But on February 29th, 1976, their daughter, Laura Christine Ebert, was born in Long Beach Navel Hospital, in California. .
As a child growing up in Trenton, Bill loved to hunt and fish and generally enjoyed doing anything outside. Bill was always very active; in fact he was an All-American fencer and a swimmer at the USAF. Bill remained active later in life, often more active than his wife would like. For example, when he took up road biking at the age of 70 yrs old. Bill’s biggest passion, other than his family and flying, was his love for cars. His parents saved enough money during his tenure at the USAF to buy him a beautiful 1963, convertible corvette. This turned out to be one of many of his sports cars. His passion for fast cars grew beyond Corvettes into Ferraris. Seems like a natural transition, go big or go home! Flying fast and driving fast (but safe) seemed to go hand and hand.
Bill and his wife, prior to the birth of their daughter were extremely active in multiple car clubs, traveling the nations racetracks together and having blast. Then with Laura, they took her to all the car events, they joke that she came out shifting gears. Her first stiches were due to her little head, at 8-month-old, hitting the corner of the Ferrari car door. Of all the fun they had together as a family, the one club that remained in their lives was the Ferrari Club of America, they were members for over 30 yrs together. They met many lifelong friends along the way, many of you are here today. Bill and Betty owned 4 Ferraris in their life together all of which they were not afraid to drive and as the motto goes “Ferraris were meant to be driven” all three of them took that seriously. Not only were the car events a huge part of their social life if was a family bonding time, all three of them spent many adventures together traveling the world for car events and often for fun.
If you ever spent a few minutes with Bill, you knew his never-ending gratitude for life, his family, friends, and his love for even the simplest things in life. He was truly filled with an abundance of gratitude and love. He loved spending time with his wife and daughter, working on projects around the house, in fact there was rarely a project not going on. Like the time he decided to take the engine out of one of his Ferraris to clean and renovate it. You could almost always find him, in his garage or workshop tinkering away. Despite staying slim his entire life he loved scarfing down pizza with a glass of red wine and really had a sweet tooth. Bill’s smile was contagious and was a man of great honor and integrity.
He was a true Patriot and often gave back to veterans as much as he could.
Bill wqs laid to rest at the Arlington National Cemetery, February 26th, 2025.