Admiral Terry Kraft: Securing His Dream Job By LINDA L. AUSTIN
T
he new president and CEO of the USS Midway Museum, Rear Admiral Terry Kraft, is not a stranger to Coronado. As the Navy son of pilot Captain Roy Kraft, he attended middle school here and remembers the carefree times riding his bike all over the island and the strand. Being on the pier watching his dad return from cruise on the USS Bonne Homme Richard and selling the popular Vietnam POW bracelets pop up as other memorable childhood moments. “There was just no better place to be a kid than Coronado.” When he became skipper of the USS Ronald Reagan based at NAS North Island, his two children experienced for three years the idyllic setting he had described to them. Erin and Brian attended Coronado Middle School, and then Erin finished her freshman year at Coronado High School. Both children are now in Denver, where Erin works in environmental planning with wind turbines and Brian is an aerospace engineer. Kraft maintains ties to Coronado. “We still have a lot of friends in Coronado, and we sail with Mike and Mel Whittemore out of Coronado Yacht Club. He's got a racing boat, so we get down to Coronado a lot.” Kraft always wanted to join the Navy even though he acknowledged that the family separations were difficult. With his dad absent for extended periods during the Vietnam War, he would forget what he looked like, but his pride in his dad and the close relationship they had when they were together more than filled in the gap.
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| CORONADO MAGAZINE
