Military Careers: Colonel Ken Suggs

Col. Ken Suggs

Local Resident Spent Long & Fruitful Career in USAF

by Mike Wilt

When he was an active member of the United State Air Force, Kenneth Suggs would often participate in “multi-stop out-andback” exercises. He and the other pilots would leave their base, execute several “touch-and-go” landings at various locations, and then return to their home base. It’s understandable how one might consider that an apt description of the now-retired colonel’s life. Kenneth Suggs was born May 19, 1950 in the now-vacant Washington County Memorial Hospital in Bartlesville. However, he and his family lived in Copan. Kenneth’s dad, Les, was a pipe-liner from Hulah. His mom, Dickie Rae, was a homemaker and one of the popular Dobbs Sisters, a trio who often sang for area churches. When Kenneth was six-years-old, Les went to where the work was. Consequently, Kenneth attended six different first grades in Copan, Edmond, Flagstaff (AZ), Winslow (AZ), Gallup (NM), and Palmdale (CA). He went to school for only two weeks in California. His teacher told Dickie Rae to bring her son back for second grade because he was so far ahead of the other students.

While in Palmdale, the Suggs decided to divorce. Dickie Rae loaded up Kenneth and his younger brother, Ben, and drove over 1,400 miles back to Copan. Since his mom couldn’t afford to raise two young boys, Kenneth went to live with an aunt and uncle in the small farming community of Westphalia, Kansas.

“It was the ideal small American town to grow up in. There were 249 people when I got there and 248 when I left.”

Kenneth was 12 years old when he moved back to Copan.

“We lived off the money I made from my paper route. I got up at 4 a.m. every day and drove my Cushman motor scooter. Times were tough back then.”

After completing her schooling, Dickie Rae joined Phillips Petroleum Company as a computer keypunch operator and, later, a data analyst. She also served as president of the Jane Phillips Society.

In 1964, Dickie Rae married Robert K. Moore who also worked for Phillips, and the family settled in Bartlesville. Kenneth first attended College High (now BHS) as a ninth-grader.

“They didn’t know what to do with me. I was just a bad boy from Copan.”

In the fall of 1967, Kenneth transferred to Sooner High School (now Madison Middle School).

“It was fun to have a new school, and I was fortunate enough to have Della Craighead as a teacher.”

The English literature teacher was the first to be inducted into the Bartlesville Educators Hall of Fame. She passed away in 2018 at 101 years old.

“She made me think of things I had never thought of. I was a ‘cool’ guy driving around with girls, but she made me think of life in general and what I was going to make of it. She was a pure angel.”

After being in Sooner’s first graduating class in 1968, Kenneth headed to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. In November of 1971, he married his high school sweetheart and Col-Hi cheerleader, Cheryl Martini. Needing to make ends meet, the couple worked at the Pizza Hut in nearby Springdale where Kenneth was an assistant manager and Cheryl was the head waitress.

As bitter fighting continued to involve U.S. forces in Vietnam, Kenneth received a draft notice in November of 1972. He was to report in January.

“I had already used my college deferment, so it was not a question of going but when. My mom and I went to the draft board to ask if they could wait until I graduated. Mom wasn’t real excited after my foster brother joined the Marines and was killed in 1969.”

Kenneth learned the various branches of the military had delayed enlistment programs, so he visited several recruiting offices.

“I was always interested in aviation, but I was a kid from Copan. Where was I going to meet people who flew planes?”

Kenneth graduated in May of 1973 with a degree in finance, economics, and banking.

“Which I’ve never used.”

While he scored a lot better on a test administered by the Marines, and despite the recruiter leaving a case of beer by his dorm room door, Kenneth joined the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in June of 1973.

“However, I was able to come back to Bartlesville to help coach the Pony League baseball champions. Afterwards, I cut my long hair and boarded a plane for San Antonio.”

Officer Training School (OTS) at Lackland Air Force Base was Kenneth’s first stop.

“It was a whirlwind, but I liked the discipline and the attention to detail.”

However, he almost didn’t qualify. As part of the three-month training, Kenneth went through a Flight Screening Program in which he was taught to fly a plane.

“Most everyone had a private pilot’s licenses and had flying experience. I was a little behind and somewhat in awe that I was up there doing it.”

Corky Valentine, a F-4 fighter pilot who had completed multiple tours of Vietnam, was one of Kenneth’s instructors. The pair were flying a Cessna training plane one day when Valentine told Kenneth he was on his own.

“You’re gonna land this S.O.B. or we’re gonna die,” Valentine said.

Kenneth successfully executed three “touch-and-go” landings without any help from Valentine.

“They weren’t pretty, but they were safe,” Kenneth said.

Afterwards, Kenneth was really on his own.

“Now, go do it by yourself,” Valentine said as he walked away from the plane.

Not only did Kenneth fly the plane solo, but he went on to earn an “outstanding” rating on his final check ride.

“I was just a poor kid from Copan, but I learned something about myself and developed the confidence to do anything. I’ll never forget it.”

On the verge of graduating from OTS, Kenneth was bitten by a brown recluse spider.

“They called my mom and my wife to make their way to the base because they didn’t think I was going to make it through the night. I had a fever of 108. I remember being in a stainless steel tub with ice up my chin, and I wasn’t cold.”

Kenneth was hospitalized for 67 days during which he developed viral pneumonia and endured multiple skin grafts. He eventually recovered and graduated from OTS in December of 1973.

Due to the oil crisis, Kenneth’s undergraduate pilot training at Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, Texas, didn’t start until April of 1974. But once it started, he soared to new heights. The bad boy from Copan won awards for both academics and flying, and he finished in the top ten percent of his class.

Upon graduating from pilot training in May of 1975, the former newspaper delivery boy spent the next 30 years traveling the world. He was deployed to Southeast Asia, Hawaii, France, Turkey, Spain, and Saudi Arabia, just to name a few. He planned and executed aircraft refueling support during the removal of Manuel Noriega from Panama (1990), combat operation “Desert Storm” (1990-91), and “Shock and Awe” (2003).

In late 1997, Kenneth returned to his native Oklahoma as a commander at Tinker AFB. He created the first “associate” Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) flying unit in the USAF. While at Tinker, he learned to fly an AWACS plane that is similar to a Boeing 707. He also became an instructor. His unit captured 16 of 18 first place awards during a 1999 competition and was named Outstanding Reserve Unit of the Year.

In 2010, Kenneth was awarded full military retirement after 36 years of service. Sadly, his 30-year marriage to Cheryl became a casualty.

“The Air Force sent me too far away, and things just started to crumble. She is a magnificent person who did a marvelous job raising our three children. But we just slowly drifted apart.”

Today, the 71-year retired colonel lives in Bartlesville alongside his 86-year-old stepfather. His mom, Dickie Rae, passed away in 2007.

“Pops and I go to church and Bible study together. And I enjoy being back home where many of my boyhood friends live.”

He also enjoys volunteering for OK EAT, a local nonprofit organization that operates a fun-filled kiddie farm designed to educate children about energy and agriculture.

The last Vietnam draft was in December of 1972, just one month after Kenneth received his notice. He was asked if he ever wondered what his life might have been like had he not been drafted.

“I used to. While I like the discipline of accounting and math in banking, there’s a stronger pull to fly, fight, hold the light, or carry out the dead. Just an Okie from Copan.”

Who’s made a perfect landing at home base.