Lt. Col. James "Jim" Halvorson, USAF (Ret.)

Jim was born in Wisconsin and grew up working in his father’s barbershop while playing as many sports as he could fit in. He went to the University of Wisconsin on a football scholarship and participated in their ROTC program (he always wanted to go into the wild blue yonder). He had to give up football due to injuries (after a trip to the Rose Bowl) and started cutting hair to help pay the bills, since ROTC didn’t cover everything.

He married the love of his life, Joanne, and commissioned into the USAF in 1958 after graduating college when his dream of flying was (temporarily) crushed. It was shortly after the end of the Korean War, the number of available pilot slots was small and he was disqualified due to not having enough of his original teeth. His early assignments included Williams AFB (AZ), Korea and the Air Force Academy (where he was the skiing and boxing coach). Jim and family (there were now two kids – Barry and Shari) then returned to Williams AFB. He was on the golf course when he told his story to a General Officer in the foursome…soon after a waiver was arranged that got him into pilot training just a few months before he would’ve been too old. The next assignment was to Tyndall AFB as an instructor pilot where he became a bit of a TV star. He was flying one of those T-38s on the screen in the “High Flight” video that used to air when stations signed off for the night in the ‘70s and ‘80s. After Tyndall, he spent most of 1972 flying forward air control over Vietnam in an OV-10 Bronco while the rest of the family (now with the youngest – Dean) spent their time with family in Wisconsin. The return assignment was to Webb AFB in Big Spring, TX for 4 ½ years training pilots in the T-38. The last place in the rotation was a move to Randolph AFB in the summer of 1977 where Jim had three consecutive assignments (and lived out his years in the same house in Universal City - almost 48 years). He was again a T-38 instructor, then a T-39 instructor and closed up with a couple of years in personnel before retiring with 28 years of active duty service.

Jim was able to continue flying for a time with a second career as a private flight instructor at a small airfield outside of Seguin where a couple of his students were KSAT 12 on-air folks back in the ‘90s.

After finally “fully” retiring from the workforce, Jim spent 10 years golfing and taking care of his wife Joanne who had Alzheimer’s disease. He adored her and was deeply committed to looking after her in her time of need. She had run the household and raised the kids throughout his career, and he often said it was his turn—he never wavered.

Jim spent as much time as he could at the golf course and loved watching his beloved Badgers and Packers during football season.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Joanne, and son, Barry. He leaves behind his brother Bill, daughter Shari (Dane), son Dean (Lee Ann), five grandchildren (Amber, Ashley (David), Abbie, Riley and Niklas) and two great-grandchildren (Ashley and David’s Lachlan and Grayson). He will be interred at a later date next to his wife Joanne back in Wisconsin.