Jacques Adnet

Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Jacques Jim Pierre Adnet passed away on the 31st of October 2019, in his home near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

He was born on the 12th of December 1929, to Aline Georgette Klein Adnet and Julien Charles Henri Adnet in Sermaize-les-Bains, France.

Jacques is a father to three children: Denise Adnet, Longmont, CO; Lisa Adnet, Spokane, WA and Paul Adnet, Palmer Lake, CO. He enjoyed a loving relationship with his three grandchildren: Moriah Adnet, Spokane, WA; Jason Weiner, Silverdale, WA; and Alex Diaz, Vancouver, WA. He also met and visited his seven great-grandchildren: Gareth Adnet, Devyn Adnet, Noah Adnet, Viviana Adnet, Margarita Weiner, Colby Weiner and Dominic Diaz. He was thrilled to have lived long enough to hear about the fourth generation of his “progeny,” his five great-great-grandchildren. He would often ask for “the total progeny count” and exclaim, “Why, that is 18! Five over a “Baker’s Dozen!,” and laugh. He never ended a phone call without saying, “Tell all my grandchildren that I love them, to never give up and to always do their best!” He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Gervaise Adnet, and his brother Jean Adnet. He is an uncle to Bernard Adnet, Alain Adnet, Evelyne Adnet and he shared a very special bond with his nephew, Michel Adnet. He was a great-uncle to numerous great-nephews and nieces. He was a remarkable man who continues to be a source of inspiration to his family.

At the age of 17, he was sent by his parents to the United States to live with his Aunt Alice and her American husband, Rollin “Jim” Reynolds, whom she had met and married while he was fighting in WWI. Jacques was a passenger on the USS Marine Falcon and after a two-week Atlantic sea voyage, he arrived in New York City on March 25, 1947. He became a United States citizen in 1952.

He attended his senior year of high school in Stuart, Florida. After high school graduation, he attended the University of Florida from September 1948 until June of 1951. He graduated with both a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and from the Air Force ROTC program with the rank of Lieutenant. He took a variety of additional training and graduate-level college classes, and in 1965 he completed his formal education by attaining his Master’s in Aeronautics and Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio.

He enjoyed a fulfilling and exciting career in the United States Air Force as a research and development director for NATO, as the director of protocol for the Department of Defense at the Le Bourget Air Show, and was also a translator “par excellence.” During his military career he was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi; Wiesbaden, Germany; Rome, New York; Jacksonville, Florida; Sudbury, Massachusetts; Dayton, Ohio (twice); Fontainebleau, France; Renaix, Belgium; and Naples, Italy.

Jacques also spent some time as a “Black Crow” and was one of the innovators/leaders in developing electronic warfare. It was during this time he flew numerous missions as a navigator/countermeasures officer on a B-29 testing U.S. systems by attempting to sneak into American airspace.

He retired from the Air Force in 1973 and went on to establish his private practice, AdnetTech. This private business venture was a vehicle to continue his passion for building bridges of communication between the United States and French governments through his translation services. In addition, it was a new business venture in which he began to design passive solar homes. In 1975, he became a member of the teaching staff at the Air Force Academy. Beginning in 1982 he was involved with the AFA L’Ecole de l’Air Exchange Program. From 1985-1986 he was the director of protocol for the 1986 World Cycling Championships that were held in Colorado Springs, CO.

On November 3, 1990, he married Helen “Ilene” Milam at the Community Chapel at the Air Force Academy and together they built their passive solar home just north of the Academy. They met at a ballroom dancing event, a passion that they both enjoyed and which then became their shared passion as they danced their way on cruise ships from Western Europe, to Hawaii, to Alaska and finally to the Pacific Northwest. Ilene preceded him in death on August 4, 2012 after a long illness during which time he was her caregiver and (in her words): “My knight in shining armor.”

He has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, most notably, the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur which he received by order of President Jacques Chirac because “ . . . he never gave up working towards the friendship and mutual appreciation that exists between our two countries.” As a recipient of this award he was conferred the title of “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur” on June 4, 2004. He was deeply moved by this tribute from his homeland.

Jacques was also very humbled and pleased to learn that a preschool in his hometown of Sermaize-les-Bains, France, was named in his honor. The “Ecole Maternelle Jacques Adnet” will live on as a tangible symbol of his passion for both the importance of education and for the love he felt for his beloved hometown.

His most heartfelt lifetime contribution was a redaction of his memoirs which detail growing up as a child in Occupied France during World War II. Entitled “When I see a ‘Forty and Eight.’” it was published in 2001. His book is also a companion to the actual French “Forty and Eight” railroad car that he was instrumental in bringing over to the United States. This railroad car can be seen in an exhibit at the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. His book is still sold online today. Written not only as a cautionary tale against tyranny and repression, it also serves as a heartfelt reminder of the lifetime debt of gratitude that my father felt he owed to the United States for liberating his hometown and his country from Nazi Germany. He never forgot the sacrifices made on his behalf.

Services pending till September, date and time TBD. Future information will be available at the Swan Law Funeral Directors, 501 North Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.

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