Billie Charlene Lybrand went to meet her Lord on Friday August 31, 2023, at age 83. She was residing at Cedarhurst Senior Living Community, Springfield, MO under hospice care for Alzheimer’s.
Preceding her in death were her parents. Ralph Lybrand and Ethel Lybrand Patton of Dayton, OH and her brother-in-law Russell (Ike) lsentrager of Dayton, OH. She is survived by her sisters Jean lsentrager of Dayton, OH, Anna Tennenhouse and her husband Dan, of Mill Valley, CA and Libby Ray and her husband Jack of Springfield, MO and a host of nieces and nephews and friends from all over the world.
Charlene was born in Middlesboro, KY on December 7, 1939. She graduated from high school in Middlesboro and went on to attend several colleges before graduating from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. with a degree in Foreign Relations. She also received her MBA in Business from Fordham University in New York, New York.
During her college years, Charlene and her roommate and good friend, Sue Cady, traveled to Mexico City as part of their course curriculum.
This is where Charlene developed a love of travel and seeking out new experiences. She learned from friends that Pan American World Airways was hiring stewardesses and her fate was sealed as a world traveler. She joined Pan Am in 1963, spending her first year in Miami, FL. Wanting to see more of the world, she transferred to San Francisco, CA. Eventually, she spent most of her career working for Pan Am in New York City where she was a long-time member of the Marble Collegiate Church when Norman Vicent Peale was pastor. She loved volunteering at the United Nations and Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City.
Charlene always had a story to tell of her adventures traveling to all six continents and making memories with good friends along the way. She never met a stranger and never stopped touching lives even when she developed Alzheimer’s. The staff where she was a resident in her later years all said the same thing, “She is our favorite!”

The funeral service will be held on Monday September 11, 2023, at the Tobias Funeral Home 5471 S. Far Hills Ave. Dayton, OH. The visitation will be from 12:30-1:30pm and the service will start afterwards at 1:30pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Salvation Army, the Women’s Fund at Bera College, Bera, KY or to Christian Restoration Ministries c/o Pam and Paul Highfield (missionaries to the Maasai Tribes in Kenya, Africa) P.O. Box 974 Springfield, MO 65801.