Denise Lee Masters

Denise Lee Masters was born near Shreveport, Louisiana on September 3, 1953 to Bertrand and Emma Eichelberger. Her father, an Air Force pilot and navigator, kept the family moving around from Louisiana, Maine and eventually Warrensburg, Missouri and Whiteman AFB; where the family would settle for many years. It was in Missouri that her love of sports and the outdoors really came alive. She participated in some of the first ladies sports programs in Missouri.

She graduated from Warrensburg High School, and soon after followed her father’s footsteps in the United States Air Force; voluntarily enlisting into a largely drafted Air Force during the Vietnam Conflict. She had an incredibly successful career as an airman, achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant and working across many different duty assignments. She was among the first women to serve in the USAF Security Services as a Morse code field operator (the first field position open to women in the US Military). She married a fellow veteran while they both served in the Air Force. They traveled from duty stations in Texas, South Carolina, Alaska, and Missouri.

On September 14, 1985; she gave birth to an 8 pound 6 ounce baby boy in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Denise relished the chance to be a mother, and took to teaching her son many things. She had him swimming before he walked, involved in sports, hiking, and mountain biking. She was a beloved mother and wife to her family.

Denise continued to participate in sports programs most of her life including; sponsoring several youth and adult softball teams, coaching senior softball teams, working with afterschool programs for inner city at-risk youth, and teaching physical education at several valley elementary schools.

A graduate of Arizona State University, her focus of continued study was Physical and Elementary Education, and she was heavily involved in volunteering in at-risk youth programs and elementary special education programs for special needs children. Denise had a special place in her heart for children with Down syndrome and teaching them to play sports.

In the latter part of her life, even while being stricken with renal failure, she was an incredible friend and parent. She mentored many people, and would give the shirt off her back to a friend in need. Right up until the time she passed, Denise was always giving of her time to anyone who asked it of her. Even in death, she directed many of her possessions to be donated to James Madison Preparatory School, a local charter school she had worked at for a few years, and that held a special place in her heart.

Denise is survived by her only son; John Masters, III (and Autumn Chapman-Gohn); her grandchildren; Emma Elaina, Riley Marie, Elizabeth Anne and Samuel Isaiah; her siblings; Diane Harris (and David Harris) and Bertrand Eichelberger; and her nephew and niece; Benjamin Harris and Christine Riley.

Services will be held at 9:00 am at Melcher’s Chapel of the Roses on the 24th of July 2014. Following will be a funeral procession to the National Cemetery in Phoenix, AZ to render military honors and inter the urn.