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Robert E. Tinney Colonel
Robert E. (Bob) Tinney died Saturday, June 2, 2001, following a lengthy
battle with cancer. Services
will be 3:00 PM on Wednesday, June 66, in the chapel of the Hampton Vaughn
Crestview funeral home. Interrment
will be in Crestview Memorial Park under the direction of Hampton Vaughn
Crestview, Wichita Falls, Texas. Bob
was born November 3, 1930, in Bird Hollow, Texas, a rural community near
Bowie to the late Tom and Gladys Tinney. He grew up on a Wise County farm and
attended Alvord public schools until leaving after his junior year to enter
college at North Texas Agricultural College, now University of Texas at
Arlington. In December 1948, he transferred to Texas Tech and graduated in
May 1951, with a BS in Agricultural Science. In his senior year, he and the
former Wanda Hubert were married in Alvord, Texas, in August 1950. Immediately
following graduation Tinney reported to Perrin AFB in Sherman, Texas, for undergraduate
pilot training, then on to Reese AFB in Lubbock, Texas, where he received his
wings in 1952. He was assigned as a single engine fighter pilot. While his
unit was en route to Korea in 1953,
they were diverted to Japan, where his family joined him for a 30-month tour.
Returning to the US in mid 1955, he was assigned as a flight instructor. In
1958, he was selected to become one of the 120 instructors, considered to be
the top instrument pilots in the USAF, at the USAF instrument flight school.
Four of his students would be assigned to the Presidential Flight,
Washington, DC. In 1961, he came to Sheppard AFB as a student in the missile
launch and maintenance course. His high class standing earned him a slot as
an instructor for the next three years. He also had the additional duty as
the pilot on Major General Thomas E. Moore's aircraft. In 1964, he joined
General Moore in the Pentagon serving on the staff in Personnel Planning,
again with additional duty as pilot on Moore's flights. In 1966, he transferred
with General Moore to Alaska to pilot the command aircraft and became
Commander of the famed "Firebirds," the 17th Tactical Airlift
Squadron. Using wheel and ski equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft, they provided
support to radar sights throughout Alaska, landing on short, gravel
airstrips, some of which were constructed on the slope of mountains. They
also had arctic search and rescue responsibility from Shemya Island in the
Aleutians to Iceland. They supported the two radar sights on the Greenland
ice cap and accomplished the re-supply of the Naval ice island T-3 in the
Arctic ocean near the North Pole, a mission deemed impossible by all but the
Firebirds. Bob considered this his most memorable assignment. He served a
tour in Viet Nam, in the field with the US Army, where he set new standards
for airlift management. He then went to Naples, Italy, for a special mission
assignment with Air South (NATO) but was recalled to attend the prestigious
Air War College dubbed by many as the "charm school" for future general
officers. Following graduation he became Commander of the largest recruiting
group in the nation, again, setting new standards in management and quality
production. After twenty-three years of distinguished service, and after
receiving numerous awards and decorations, he voluntarily retired in mid 1974
in the grade of Colonel. Following
retirement, he and Wanda returned to Wichita Falls, where they have resided
for twenty-seven years. Bob started a ranching operation in Wise County. He
later acquired the local farm supply, and in 1978 he and his brother, T.J.
(Pete) Tinney of Wichita Falls, built and operated the Enco truck stop north
of Alvord on US 287 for seven years. In
1984, Bob joined long time friend Joe White, former executive director of
Wichita Falls BCI, to assist him in the establishment of his "Pathfinder"
economic development office for the county of San Bernadino, California. He
was their lead representative for five years before leaving to open his
industrial real estate office. During his time with the Pathfinders, they
were the state leader in economic development for six consecutive years. He
returned to Wichita Falls in 1995 to become a full time and successful
fisherman of Lakes Fork and Texoma. Bob
is survived by wife Wanda of Wichita Falls, three children, six
grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, one brother Pete, of Wichita Falls
and a multitude of friends. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a memorial contribution in his name be made to Hospice of Wichita Falls, PO Box 4804, Wichita Falls, TX 76308. |
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