USAFA Class Histories

I attended the Air Force Academy and graduated in 1963.  After graduation I went to Craig AFB in Selma Alabama for pilot training.  I was stationed there as an instructor pilot during Martin Luther King€™s march.  In 1965 I married Melba Lee Hoffmeyer at St Francis Xavier in Taos.  She joined me at Craig and we have traveled the world together. I began as a T33 instructor, then upgraded to the T38 when Craig received them. In 1969 we moved to Tucson, AZ for F4 training.  After training I went to DaNang AB, 390^th TFS, in Vietnam while Melba and the children moved back to Jefferson City.  After flying combat for six months, I was reassigned to Tan Son Nhut AB where I worked in 7^th AF combat ops.  After the combat tour I was reassigned to F-111s and we went to Las Vegas for training. This was followed by a tour at Upper Heyford in England as a crew member and instructor pilot in the F-111E, 55^th TFS.  After England we went to Montgomery AL where I completed Air Command and Staff College.  While at ACSC I completed a Master€™s degree in Education with Troy St. University.  Following completion of the residence course, I was assigned as an instructor in the ACSC Seminar program.  In the 80s we headed west to Clovis NM and the F-111D. I started as an instructor pilot in the 481^st TFTS, and then was reassigned as the ops officer of the 524TFS.  Later, I became the Deputy Base Commander, and then the Assistant Director of Operations for the 27TFW. In 1982 we left Clovis and went back to Montgomery where I completed Air War College.  From 1983 to 1985 we were at Inzirlik, Turkey where I served as the Vice-commander and then Commander of the 39TACGp.  Two years later we moved to Sumter, where I was reassigned as DOJ, and conducted exercises in Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, and Oman.  In 1989, I retired as a Colonel after serving 26 years in the Air Force.

Melba and I have four children, John, Janet, Beth, and Jeff.  They are all married and we have been blessed with nine grandchildren. 

Melba and I now live in Sumter, where I began my second career as a Mathematics teacher.  In 1989 I completed all requirements except student teaching for a Masters is Education Matematics.  In 1990, instead of completing student teaching, I joined the staff of St Jude High School, a Catholic school, as a Math teacher. I taught there until 1993.  I moved to Thomas Sumter Academy, another private school, in 1994 and have taught there ever since.  In 2004 I was asked to step in as Headmaster, which I did for two+ years.  Once a permanent Headmaster was hired, I asked and was allowed to stay on as a part time teacher, teaching Physics and Calculus. I was asked by the new Catholic High School, St Francis Xavier, to teach there also. So since 2007 I have taught Physics and Calculus at two different private schools.