Kenneth Ford Troup - Retired Colonel U.S. Air Force of Fairborn, OH, died on June 2, 2010 in Tucson, Arizona of complications from lung cancer. He was born in his parent’s home in Kansas City, Kansas on January 6, 1919 and graduated from Wyandotte High School in Kansas City and the University of Kansas. He left college in 1940 after completing Reserve Officer Training Corps and began a career of public service for the United States military that spanned more than 62 years. He served in Panama with the US Army Coastal Artillery and in Hawaii with the Army Air Corps during World War II as a rated pilot, completed his college degree in Chemical Engineering at KU after the war, and having remained in the Air Force Reserves was called back to active duty in 1950. Col. Troup served in Korea from May 1953 through April 1954, was at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 1954-1960, and subsequently retired as a Colonel in the Air Force in 1965 at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts. He returned to civil service at Wright Patterson in 1966 and became a national expert in flight suits, survival kits, helmets, and other life support equipment used by Air Force pilots. He retired from Civil Service at Wright Patterson in 2003 at the age of 84. Mr. Troup was a member of Safety of Aircraft and Flight Equipment (SAFE) and received honors for lifetime achievement from the Life Support organization. He was awarded the Dinosaur designation because of his longevity and contributions to keeping USAF pilots safe in hostile environments as well as numerous other honors at the time of his retirement. In 1992 he received the SAFE National Award. Mr. Troup is survived by his wife of 10 years Nicole Kirkpatrick and was predeceased by his wife of 49 years Annette Woods and his second wife of 6 years Patricia Lichty. His sister Eleanor Troup Robinson predeceased him on May 19, 2010. He is also survived by three children, Kenneth III and his wife Brenda of Bolton, Massachusetts; David and his wife Cheryl of Manhattan, Kansas; and Pamela Horne and her husband Stephen of Lafayette, Indiana. He is survived by seven grandchildren, Elizabeth Kinney of Sudbury, Massachusetts, Kathryn Denney of Marlborough, Massachusetts, Rebecca Lenthe of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Matthew Troup of Lenexa, Kansas, Adam Troup of Peoria, Illinois, Emily Horne of Washington, DC, and Jennifer Horne of Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Troup had six great-grandchildren. In addition to his service to the US military, Mr. Troup served the town of Fairborn Ohio on the Parks and Recreation Department Board and was a volunteer at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force for many years until early 2010