Cleo Dan Hurley, 91, of Hampstead, NH a retired Delta Air Lines Pilot, left on his final flight on January 5, 2024.

Captain Hurley, a pilot for Northeast and Delta Air Lines, was born in Luther, Tennessee on July 9, 1932 to Charlie and Mary (Greene) Hurley.  He was raised in the Three Rivers Section of his beloved East Tennessee between the Cumberland and Great Smokey Mountains.

After he attended Morristown East High School he proudly served in the US Army.  Captain Hurley graduated the US Army Instructor's School, Fort Rucker, AL, and thereafter worked as an instructor at Anderson Air Activities at Malden AFB in Malden, MO.   For more than ten years he continued to work civil assignments with the Army and Air Force.  He also conducted ground school courses for local aviation schools and private parties.  While working at Manchester Airport, then called Grenier Field, he created, wrote, copyrighted and concluded the Annual Instrument Refresher Course for US Air Force pilots.

After departing the military, in 1966 he began training airline pilots for Northeast Airlines in Boston, transferring to "flying the line" in 1967.  Northeast merged with Delta in 1971.  He was based in Boston and Chicago, and retired from Delta Air Lines as Captain in 1992.  He loved his family, home and the people of Hampstead, NH where he spent the last 45 years of his life living across the street from where he and Marie were married in 1952.   He enjoyed sailing, owned many boats and was a Life Member of the American Yacht Club, Newburyport, MA.  Captain Hurley always enjoyed the fly-ins and ROMEO breakfasts with his fellow aviators in New Hampshire.  In retirement he consulted for the National Museum of WWII Aviation, Colorado Springs, CO.  He also was a member of The Old Rhinebeck Aviation Museum, Red Hook, NY and the New Hampshire Aviation Museum, Manchester, NH.

Surviving family members include a daughter and son-in-law, Roxanne (William) Schloth, Jr.; a son and daughter-in-law, Marshall (Michele) Hurley; and grandchildren and spouses, Roxanne Marie (Michael) McGaffigan, Rachel (Richard) Moynihan, Gregg (Cortney) Hurley and Randy (Julie) Hurley.  Captain Hurley also is survived by thirteen great grandchildren; sister-in-law, Antionette Palmeter; and brothers-in-law Andrew DeSesa and Roger DeSesa along with many nieces, nephews and good friends.

In addition to his parents, in February of 2023, Cleo was predeceased by his cherished wife of 70 years Marie Anne (DeSesa) Hurley.  He also was predeceased by his six brothers and sisters and their spouses:  Mildred and Kyle Talley, Marshall and Francis Hurley, Dallas and Bernice Hurley, Lucy and Paul Brooks, Lewis Carroll and Vestine Hurley, Wanda and Billy Parrott, and by his brother-in-law Dominic DeSesa and sister-in-law Joanne DeSesa.

Per request there will be no services.

High Flight by John Magee

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter- silver wings;
Sunwards I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds - and done a thousand things
you have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
high in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,
I've chased the shouting wind along and flung
my eager craft through footless halls of air,
up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.