Robert F. Stark

Col. Robert F. Stark, USAF Ret, a resident of Air Force Village II, died on Monday, November 2, 2009. Born in Atlanta, GA on February 15, 1920, he graduated from Richmond Academy in Augusta, GA and attended Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC as a member of the ROTC majoring in Military Science. He left college in 1941 to enter the Army Air Corps, serving as an Aerial Gunnery Instructor and in the Aleutian Islands. After the war, he served as an Intelligence Officer with the 5th Air Force as part of the US Occupation Forces in Japan and in Korea where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. After Korea he served in Strategic Air Command and as an instructor with the Air Force Intelligence School at Lowry AFB, Colorado. In 1955 he was assigned to the USAF Security Service where he began a long and distinguished career, serving three tours at Security Service HQS at Kelly AFB, two tours at the USAFSS Intelligence Training School, San Angelo, TX and overseas tours in Taiwan, Japan, Berlin, Germany and Crete, Greece, where he was the Commander of the Security Service base located there. His professional military education included Air Force Intelligence School, Air Command and Staff College, Strategic Intelligence School and the Air War College. In addition to the Bronze Star, Col. Stark was awarded the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters and the Republic of Korea Presidential Citation. After his retirement in 1973, Col. Stark obtained an Associate's Degree in Real Estate from San Antonio College and was involved in real estate until he retired again when he and his wife, Sara, moved to their home on Lake Medina where they enjoyed bass fishing and the quiet beauty of the lake. Col. Stark is survived by his loving wife of 67 years, Sara, who says, "He was a person who loved his country and his military days, loved people, and was an avid reader, especially of history. He enjoyed engaging his friends in lively political discussion and was never at a loss for a joke." He is also survived by his two daughters, Dr. Sandra Elizabeth Stark, PhD, of Madison, WI, and Bobbi Stark Coombs and her husband, LtCol. John E. Coombs, USAF Ret of San Antonio and once niece, Gail Stelling, of Hacketstown, NJ,