Colonel Gean G. (Whitey) Kowalski, USAF, Ret., was born February 22, 1932, in Dickeyville, Wisconsin, to George and Theresa Kowalski. Gean returned to his eternal home on October 14, 2018, in Riverside, CA, after a long battle with Parkinson's.
Gean married his wife, Judith, on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1961, at St. Catherine's Catholic Church, Riverside. Gean is survived by his wife Judith and son Christopher.
Gean graduated from Loras Academy, a Catholic all boys' military high school in Dubuque, Iowa. It was there that Gean's football coach named him "Whitey," due to Gean's having very light blond hair. Gean played football at Loras for four years, and upon graduation, Gean received a full football scholarship to attend Iowa State University. At Iowa State, in addition to playing football for four years, Gean graduated having earned an engineering degree.
Gean knew from an early age that he wanted to become a USAF pilot. So he entered the Air Force upon graduation, and while serving in the Air Force, he soon became known as one of its very best pilots. After flying many of the early fighters and later the B-47, he eventually was chosen to enter the legendary B-58 program. The B-58 was a Mach 2 bomber, flying at twice the speed of sound, where pilots flew encapsulated. After two years of full flight duty in the program, Gean was then chosen to become Chief of Standardization Board, where he was responsible for the flight testing of other pilots.
During his time in the B-58 program, Gean became good friends with Joe Walker, the famous test pilot. Joe had attended many of the B-58 training classes with Gean, as much of the material was also pertinent to Joe in his work. Gean carefully saved a letter written to him by Joe upon the finish of classes, which was just shortly before Joe's untimely death in a flight accident.
The B-58 was eventually phased out due to its enormous maintenance expense, and Gean received the honor of flying the first and shortly later the last of the B-58s to the "boneyard" in Arizona. Gean then went through RF-4C training prior to serving a year in Vietnam. Gean's last assignment was at Beale AFB, Marysville, CA, where he retired on January 1, 1977, as Base Commander.
After retirement, Gean founded and managed a highly-successful property management company in Riverside for approximately 18 years. Gean's primary hobby was exceptionally-skilled woodworking; over the years he built Judith many beautiful pieces of prized furniture, among various other items.
Gean was predeceased by his parents and three brothers, Donald, Kenneth, and John. Memorial services will be held at a later date.
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