Lansford E. Trapp, age 90, of Brookings, died Saturday, April 11, 2009, at Brookview Manor, Brookings, South Dakota. Funeral services will be 9:30 A.M. Wednesday, April 15, 2009, at the First Presbyterian Church in Brookings, with interment and military rites at 3:00 P.M. at Conde Cemetery, Conde, South Dakota. Visitations will be from 6-8 P.M. Tuesday at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings.

Lt. Col. Lansford Elmer Trapp, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) was born June 22, 1918, at Sumatra, Montana, to Charles Arthur and Minnie Florence (Potts) Trapp. In 1919, he moved with his parents to Conde, South Dakota. He grew up on a farm as the oldest of six children, attended eight years of country school, and graduated from Brentford High School, Brentford, South Dakota in 1936. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he joined the Army Air Corps and served for the duration of the war, to include duty in the South Pacific. On January 1, 1944, he married Frances Catherine VanHatten of Randolph, South Dakota, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. After being discharged from the service in 1945, he attended college earning a B.S. degree in Engineering Physics from South Dakota State and a M.S. degree in Math from Kansas State. In 1950, they moved to Whittier, California, where he worked for North American Aviation developing the Nordis Bombsight. In 1951, Lansford was called back into the Air Force for the Korean War. He was assigned to teach Air Force cadets at UCLA where he flew the B-26 bomber. In 1953, he was reassigned to Maxwell AFB, Alabama, to write science text books for Air Force training.

At the end of the Korean War, Lansford decided to stay in the Air Force and was assigned to the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. While there he was the project officer for the U-2 high altitude spy plane. In 1959, Lansford was reassigned to headquarters of North American Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In December1963, he was assigned to Patrick AFB, Florida, in support of the Space Program operating out of Cape Canaveral. In May 1965, Lansford was sent to Viet Nam to fly in support of ground forces. Following 14 months in Viet Nam, he was reassigned back to the Pentagon as a direct adviser to the Secretary of Defense. Lansford retired from the Air Force in June 1967 after serving 26 years and amassing more than 6,000 flying hours performing duties as a senior navigator and command pilot.

Lansford and Frances returned to their roots in South Dakota and settled in Brookings, where Lansford taught math at South Dakota State University until his retirement in 1983. Lansford loved golf, and following his retirement from teaching he and Frances spent 15 winters in New Braunfels, Texas, where he could play golf while the snow flew in South Dakota.

Lansford is survived by his wife Frances of Brookings; six children: Lanny (Nancy) Trapp of Austin, Texas, Mark (Isabelle) Trapp of Boca Raton, Florida, Yvonne (Dennis)Dietterle of Madison, South Dakota, Dick (Kathy) Trapp of Beavercreek, Ohio, Paul (Leesa) Trapp of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Steve (Renee) Trapp of Phoenix, Arizona; 14 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren; a sister Doris Zimmerman of Glide, Oregon; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded by his parents, a daughter, Shirley Isaak, two brothers, and two sisters.