Editing Eddie Rickenbacker (section)

== Personal life ==

[[File:Eddie Rickenbacker wife in newspaper.pdf|thumbnail|right|''Washington Times'' article about Rickenbacker and his wife. September 3, 1922]]

[[File:Eddie Rickenbacker - Green Lawn Cemetery.jpg|thumb|Rickenbacker's grave]]

Rickenbacker met Adelaide Frost Durant in Los Angeles before World War I. At the time, she was married to [[Cliff Durant|Clifford Durant]], a racing competitor of Rickenbacker and the hard-partying son of [[William C. Durant|William Durant]] of [[General Motors#History|General Motors]] fame.<ref name=":4"/> Durant was also an abusive husband. Adelaide chose to get a hysterectomy to ensure she would bear him no children. Her father-in-law stepped in to allow her to live independently, buying her a comfortable home and giving her $220,000 in equities, half being GM stock.<ref name=":1">Lewis, W. David. ''Eddie Rickenbacker: An American Hero in the Twentieth Century,'' Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2005. p. 258. {{ISBN|978-0-8018-8244-9}}</ref>

Rickenbacker saw Adelaide again in New York in 1921 and was smitten. She finalized her divorce in July 1922, and the two were married on September 16, 1922, in Cumberland Presbyterian Church of South Beach, Connecticut.<ref name=":17"/> Following a seven-week honeymoon in Europe, the newlyweds set up home at Indian Village Manor in Detroit, Michigan.<ref name=":17"/> They adopted two boys: David Edward in 1925, and William Frost in 1928.<ref name=":17"/> Before the second adoption, the couple purchased a home in [[Grosse Pointe, Michigan|Grosse Pointe]]. In 1931, the family moved to [[Bronxville, New York]]. [[New York City]] was Rickenbacker's favored home base and remained the couple's primary residence for the rest of their lives, along with their second home in [[Key Biscayne]]. They also owned a ranch in [[Kerr County, Texas]], in the 1950s. Both of their sons attended the [[Asheville School]], where Rickenbacker served on the board of trustees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Notable Alumni - Asheville School |url=https://www.ashevilleschool.org/alumni/notable-alumni |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=ashevilleschool.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

On February 26, 1941, Rickenbacker was a passenger on [[Eastern Air Lines Flight 21]] on a [[Douglas DC-3]] airliner that crashed outside [[Atlanta]], Georgia. The survivors were rescued after spending the night at the crash site. Rickenbacker barely survived being soaked in fuel and trapped in the wreckage. The press mistakenly announced his death.

In his autobiography, Rickenbacker gave a dramatic retelling of the incident. While he was still conscious and in terrible pain, he was left behind while some ambulances carried away the bodies of the dead. When he arrived at the hospital, his injuries were so severe that the emergency [[surgeon]]s and [[physician]]s left him for dead for some time.<ref name=":26"/> The doctors instructed their assistants to "take care of the live ones".<ref name="Rickenbacker 1967, p. 241">Rickenbacker, Edward V. ''Rickenbacker: an Autobiography.'' Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967. p. 241. {{ISBN|978-0-13-781005-5}}</ref> Rickenbacker's injuries included a fractured skull, a shattered left elbow with a crushed nerve, a paralyzed left hand, several broken ribs, a crushed hip socket, a [[broken pelvis|pelvis broken]] in two places, a severed nerve in his left hip, a broken left knee, and his left eyeball was out of its socket.<ref name="Rickenbacker 1967, p. 241"/> He was in critical condition at Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital for ten days.<ref name=":18"/> After four months in the hospital, followed by months of home care, Rickenbacker healed from his injuries and regained his full eyesight.<ref name=":8"/><ref name=":7">Rickenbacker, Edward V. ''Rickenbacker: an Autobiography.'' Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967. p. 278. {{ISBN|978-0-13-781005-5}}</ref> Rickenbacker later noted the supreme act of will that it took to stave off dying.<ref name=":7"/>

Rickenbacker was an avid golfer, often playing at the [[Siwanoy Country Club]] course near his home in [[Bronxville, New York|Bronxville]]. He is one of a very select few members who were granted honorary lifetime membership.<ref name="Rickenbacker">{{cite news |title=Siwanoy and Members Build Kerrigan a Super-Shop |url=http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/golfd/article/1953mar56.pdf| publisher=Golfdom |access-date=May 3, 2015}}</ref> He was also a member of the Los Angeles Elks Lodge #99.<ref name=":21"/> After he left Eastern Airlines, the Rickenbackers traveled for several years in the Orient.<ref name=":25"/>

In 1972, Rickenbacker had a stroke that left him in a coma for a short time.<ref name=":25"/> He recovered and traveled to [[Zürich]], Switzerland, in July 1973, seeking medical treatments for his wife's failing vision.<ref name=":19"/><ref name=":25"/> While in Zürich, Rickenbacker contracted [[pneumonia]] and died at the age of 82.<ref name=":5">{{cite news |title=Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker Is Dead at 82; Rickenbacker, Ace of World War I, Is Dead Opposed to Interference B-17 Crash-Landed Took Engineering Course Attended Gunnery School |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0E13F93859137A93C6AB178CD85F478785F9 |quote=Eddie Rickenbacker, a leading fighter ace in World War I and retired chairman of Eastern Air Lines, died early yesterday in a Zurich hospital. ...|newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 24, 1973 |access-date=October 6, 2012}}</ref><ref name=":19"/><ref name=":25"/> His memorial service was held at the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church with the eulogy given by [[Jimmy Doolittle|Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.touring-ohio.com/profiles/rickenbacker4.html |title=Eddie Rickenbacker Returns to Columbus |access-date=June 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002101735/http://www.touring-ohio.com/profiles/rickenbacker4.html |archive-date=October 2, 2011 }}</ref> He was interred in Columbus, Ohio, at [[Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio|Green Lawn Cemetery]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pohlen |first=Jerome |url=http://archive.org/details/oddballohioguide0000pohl |title=Oddball Ohio: a guide to some really strange places |date=2004 |publisher=Chicago : Chicago Review Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-55652-523-0}}</ref> When he died, Rickenbacker was the last living Medal of Honor recipient from the United States Army Air Service.<ref name=":26"/>

In 1977, Adelaide was blind, in failing health, and still grieving severely from the loss of her husband.<ref name=":25"/> She died by suicide via gunshot at their home in [[Key Biscayne, Florida]], at the age of 92.<ref name=":25">{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.auburn.edu/archive/flyhy/101/adelaide.htm |publisher=Auburn University |access-date=June 8, 2015 |title=Adelaide Frost Rickenbacker}}</ref>