Michael Anthony Bartkowski

Michael Anthony Bartkowski, Major, USAF, Retired, flew to the arms of Jesus on September 28, 2016 after succumbing to complications relating to Alzheimer’s disease. He was born in Buffalo, New York on November 27, 1946 to Raymond and Margaret Bartkowski. He attended Public School (PS) 69 and Bishop Ryan High School. He was commissioned into the United States Air Force upon graduating from the University of Buffalo in 1969.

It was while he was serving as Commander of the Communications Squadron at Brooks AFB, Texas in 1976 that he met the love of his life, Tessie Sueltenfuss, who was a Civilian working for the Communications Group at Kelly AFB, Texas. Mike and Tessie were married in 1977 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in downtown San Antonio. Together, they have two children, Michelle and Eric (Christie), and two grandsons, Connor Michael and William Cresson.

While Mike and his family remained in San Antonio after his retirement from the Air Force in 1989, he never lost his love for the city of Buffalo or the Bills. Superstitious, when the Bills went to four straight Super Bowls, he took his kids to four straight movies. Sadly, he never came home to the Bills being crowned Champions. He passed this love of the Bills on to his daughter, Michelle. As a surprise, she took him to Buffalo for his 60th birthday, where they enjoyed seeing the Bills beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in person. Mike also enjoyed baseball; while stationed at Scott AFB, Illinois, he and Tessie attended several St. Louis Cardinals games. Many summer vacations included a trip to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play. Mike was heavily involved in his kids’ lives. He attended every practice and game that Eric had from pre-kindergarten through high school. Considering Eric was in sports year-round, that amounted to a lot of practices and games. Mike loved to travel; he and Tessie had a tradition of going to Disney World, including many times during Spring Break without their kids. Mike also had a sneaky sense of humor; on a postcard to Michelle from a TDY, he wrote her that Southwest Airlines served a two course meal – one bag of peanuts and one bag of pretzels.

Mike achieved the rank of Major in the Air Force, but he was never one to “wear” his rank. He cared more about serving his country than any status symbols. He was always very proud of being an American. Mike joined the Army as a Civilian in Medical Logistics in 1991, after taking time off to be with his wife and kids. His greatest professional achievement was working on then-new Brooke Army Medical Center and its initial outfitting from 1992 - 1996. To this day, when you walk into BAMC, you can still see his work. Mike retired from the then-US Army Southern Regional Medical Command in 2011.

Mike was a wonderful husband, dad, and grandpa, who did everything he could to provide for his family. We are very lucky to have had him in our lives, and we are grateful for the time we had together. He will be loved and missed always.

Mike was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, children, grandsons, and grandcats. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to San Antonio Pets Alive (www.sanantoniopetsalive.org). A visitation will be held at Sunset Northwest Funeral Home on October 4, 2016, from 6pm – 9pm, with a Rosary at 7pm. A graveside service will take place at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery on October 5, 2016; the procession will leave Sunset Northwest Funeral Home at 10:30am.