USAFA Class Heritage Class of 1963

Victor Larry Thacker was born in Philippi, WV on May 23, 1941. A lifelong passion for music began when he started playing trombone in the third grade. In high school, he was valedictorian and drum major of the band.

In 1959 he was selected to be a member of the fifth class of the Air Force Academy which graduated on June 5, 1963. At the Academy, he was on the inaugural Latin American field trip in 1961. He served as president of the Protestant Choir in his junior year and the Cadet Chorale in the senior year. He was also elected to serve as Honor Representative from Fifth Squadron. On December 9, 1961, he dated a Mexican- American music major from Loretto Heights College named Mary Theresa Solis. They were married the day after graduation; in the ensuring years, they had two daughters: Sarah in 1965 and Susannah in 1974.

After pilot training at Vance AFB, OK, Thacker flew C-124s at McChord AFB, WA and Tachikawa AB, Japan. In 1969 he was stationed at Tan Son Nhut in Saigon. He has over 4,000 hours of flying time, 400 of which were in Southeast Asia. After Vietnam, he started the masters program in English at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1970. Eighteen months later, he joined the English department at USAFA, and, for the next two years, taught English one day and flying the next (in T-41s). He was an organizer of the Class of 1963’s 10th reunion. He then returned to Chapel Hill to pursue a doctoral degree.

In 1976 he moved back to Colorado Springs to fly T-39s for two years, and then rejoined the English department for four years. During this time, the Thacker’s became co-owners of Figaro’s restaurant (1977-84). Figaro’s featured live performances of Broadway, light opera, and operatic music (and good food). Thacker served as OIC of the Cadet Chorale from 1980 to 84, and was one of the leaders for the 20th class reunion.

In 1982 Thacker was chosen to be Director of Admission and Associate Registrar. In another little first among the many firsts of the Class of 1963, he became the first Academy graduate to run the admissions process. In 1984 he selected by the American Council of Education to be one of 32 nationally chosen Fellows to study academic leadership. The Academy granted him a sabbatical, and the family moved to San Antonio for the year-long fellowship at Trinity University.

During the fellowship year, Thacker was promoted to Colonel; and, in 1985, was assigned to Maxwell AFB, AL as Chief Academic Officer for Squadron Officer School. In 1987, he was stationed in Pittsburgh, PA as Commander of ROTC Detachment 730. In 1989, Thacker retired from the Air Force and became the Director of International Education at Carnegie Mellon University. While at CMU he earned a masters degree in Public (Non-profit) Management. Five years later, he moved to Elkins, WV to lead the restoration of Graceland, a historic, stone castle on the campus of Davis & Elkins College, which became a country inn and laboratory for hospitality majors (See gracelandinn.com). In 1997 he became the Director of Admissions at the college. In 1998, Thacker retired from full-time work and started teaching English as a visiting professor at WV Wesleyan. In that year he found his great great uncle’s Civil War memoirs and had them published in 2000 (see French Harding on Amazon). The book led to several fulfilling years on the Civil War Roundtable lecture circuit. In 2001 he was asked to lead the renovation of an empty Catholic Church in Elkins and turn it into an arts center. He led that project as director for two years and eight more as Chairman of the Board (see randolpharts.org). During the 18 years in Elkins, Mary T was choir director for the new Catholic Church, and her husband was half of her bass section. In 2008 Thacker returned to full time work at Davis & Elkins College and became VP for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. In 2011 he fully retired, and he and Mary T started a decade of traveling in their RV and on European river cruises. In 2012 they moved to San Antonio, but settled in Colorado Springs in 2014. They have lived in MacKenzie Place, a retirement community since then. For six years, Thacker served as president of its HOA. Their involvement with music now has morphed from participation into patronage, but the passion remains.

An unanticipated reward of moving to Colorado Springs has been serving on the reunion committees for the 55th and 60th class reunions—and becoming a member of the group that attends all of the funerals for classmates and their spouses. In 2023 Thacker became president of the Class of 1963

35th Reunion (1998): Let’s start with the yearbook sketch since no little irony finds me “seeking my fortune” back in West Virginia, 25 miles from where I grew up. The senorita I met in Denver (Mary T. Solis of Loretto Heights) is still my co-pilot—and best friend. Completed UPT at Vance; asked for Charleston AFB; got McChord! Sent to Tachikawa, Japan 18 months later. Took a cute one-year-old named Sarah with us. (She now has a six-year old and four-year old twins.) On to Vietnam in 1969 while the family returned to San Antonio, Mary T.’s hometown. Next stop: Chapel Hill, NC for a master’s degree in English. Arrived at USAFA on Christmas 1970 to teach English—and flying—for two years. Moved back to Chapel Hill in December 1973: Mary T was 7.5 months pregnant with Susannah. Doctoral studies finished in 1976, but Congress changed the rules on flying time, so off we went to T-39s in Colorado Springs. Bought Bill Povilus’s nice house; started Figaro’s restaurant in 1977 with another couple; returned to the English Department in 1978. Great years from 1979 to 1982: colleagues in the English Department (including Jim Gaston) were superb, Figaro’s was succeeding, and I was OIC of the Cadet chorale twenty years after being its president. The yearbook mentioned the goal of establishing the “Thacker Family Singers.” Since our daughters did not inherit our musical genes, the closest we got was the restaurant. Mary T and other sang live shows five nights a week. In 1982, I put in papers to retire, but instead became the first graduate to be USAFA’s Director of Admissions. That job was really fun: high-risk (for peacetime) and high visibility. In 1984, chosen to be an American Council on Education Fellow to study academic administration for one year. Spent a sabbatical at Trinity University in San Antonio. Promoted to Colonel while in Texas. Sent to Alabama in 1985 to become the chief academic officer of SOS. After two years, I was chosen to be a PAS in AFROTC. Asked for Texas, Colorado, and Carolina; got two choices in Boston and the University of Pittsburgh. Notice any pattern here? Retired in Pittsburgh in 1989 and worked at Carnegie Mellon—a decision which allowed Susannah (who went to six different schools in seven years) to finish high school in one place. In 1994 one of the liaison officers I had worked with as director of admissions helped me get a job with his alma mater, Davis & Elkins College. I have been an assistant to the president of the college in charge of restoring a historic mansion named Graceland, which we turned into a country inn with restaurant. We do not have any singing (yet), but there is still a sense of cycles at work with the return to my roots. Susannah was married in the mansion in September, 1996. And I became vice president of admissions at the college in July 1997. Ad Novos Mundos, again!