OBITUARY James Stanley Oliver June 30, 1937 – November 5, 2018 James S. Oliver, LtCol USAF (Ret), age 81, passed away peacefully on Monday, November 5, 2018. James was born June 30, 1937 in Davao City, Philippines on the Island of Mindanao. During WWII, at age four, James was a prisoner of war in the Philippines, held by Japanese military forces during their occupation.
Following the family’s escape, they lived in the jungle for four years. in 1954, in Akron, Indiana the USA War Claims Department assigned him a POW number for his imprisonment. At age twelve, James moved to the United States, to his father’s hometown of Akron, Indiana.
During high school he was voted into class office every year, and was class president his senior year at Akron High School. James graduated from Purdue University in January of 1960 with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in International Relations. He completed graduate courses in Economics at South Dakota State University and in International Relations at Creighton University in Nebraska.
In his spare time, James earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration on June 6, 1981 from Golden Gate University, CA. James retired after a 24-year US Air Force career, his last assignment was as a Squadron Commander (90 OMMS) of a strategic missile maintenance unit, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. After schooling with the US Army at Fort Bragg, NC.
He had a mid-career assignment in Special Operations in Vietnam from January to December 1971. After retirement from the military in 1984, James worked as a Logistics Representative for the Martin Marietta Corporation until his second retirement from the aerospace industry in 1992. After retirement, James and his wife, Louise became writers of commercial and literary projects.
Together they wrote approximately 250 Instructors guides for the Head start Program in Arizona and their first book in 1997, Grandpa’s Very Short Stories. They continued to be active with the writing community and family newsletters. They traveled the world together and went to all seven continents, the last being Antarctica in December 2000.
James is survived by his loving wife, Louise Oliver; children: Laura Ann Oliver of Centennial, Colorado, Karen Lee Cox of Wilmington, North Carolina, James Reece Oliver of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky and Michael Robert Oliver of Seattle, Washington; brothers: Robert Phillip Oliver of Littleton, Colorado and Winston Reece Oliver of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Several beloved grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nephews also survive James.
James was preceded in death by his parents and sister Rebecca Oliver.
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