Usher Family Genealogy

Howard Cooke Usher, Jr.
(1937 - ) Married Wilberta Janet Stoeckle in 1974

    Howard was born on 28 March, 1937 in the New Britain General Hospital, New Britain, CT. This was the hospital serving Plainville, CT, where his parents lived.  For the first few months of his life, Howard and his parents lived with his father's family at 9 Hough Street, Plainville, CT.  Then in September 1938, Howard, his father and mother moved into a new home his parents bought at 74 Trumbull Avenue, Plainville, CT.  The house was built by Howard's great uncle, William Lewis Cooke.  Howard's sister, Linda, was born 21 July 1939.  Howard attended elementary school at the Linden Street School in Plainville and then graduated from Plainville High School on 20 June 1955.

    During his last high school years and for a few years after high school, Howard was very active in the Plainville Cadet Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol.  In 1955, he attended the CAP Summer Encampment at Mitchell AFB, Hempstead, Long Island, NY, and in 1956 the encampment at Grenier AFB, Manchester, NH. The National Geographic Magazine of May 1956 featured an article on the CAP and had pictures of the 1955 encampment at Mitchell AFB. One picture shows an unidentified Howard, standing on the wing of a T-33A jet trainer, dressed as an Air Force pilot.
    Howard received a CAP flight training scholarship in 1955. His first student flight was from Robertson Field in Plainville on 9 June 1955 with Stan Robertson as instructor.  Howard has a total of 68 student pilot hours, flying from Robertson Field and later as a member of a USAF aero club flying from Phillip Bullard Field, Topeka, KS.; however, he never did obtain a private pilots license.
    In August 1956, Howard was selected as the Connecticut CAP Wing Cadet to attend the Civil Air Patrol Jet Orientation Course at Perrin AFB, TX.  There he received a certificate for 34 hours of instruction, which included two flights in a USAF T-33A jet trainer.

    After graduating from high school, Howard attended The University of Connecticut at Hartford for a year.  He then worked one year at the Hamilton Standard Division of United Aircraft Corporation in Windsor Locks, CT. until December 1957.

    On 6 January 1958 at New Haven, CT, Howard enlisted in the United States Air Force as an Aviation Cadet. He was assigned to Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX for pre-flight navigator training. Two of his upperclassmen there were former CAP Cadets that Howard had met at Perrin AFB in 1956. Upon completion of pre-flight training on 1 April 1958, Howard was assigned to Harlingen AFB, TX for flight training in T-29 Flying Classroom navigator trainers. He graduated on 25 November 1958, received his Navigators Wings and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the USAF.  Of the 55 young men that started in his class, 58-08N, Howard was one of 16 to graduate.  His first assignment as a new Navigator was to the 55th Air Refueling Squadron, 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Strategic Air Command at Forbes AFB, KS.  Howard reported to Forbes on 21 February 1959 after temporary duty at Randolph AFB, TX for KC-97G Combat Crew Training.  While at Forbes, Howard completed many Temporary Duty Assignments as follows:

        Thule AB, Greenland May 1959 5 days.
        Yokota AB, Japan 1 Jun 1960 - 20 Aug 1960
        Hickam AFB, Hawaii 28 Sep 1960- 3 Oct 1960
        Yokota AB, Japan 28 Aug 1961 - 3 Nov 1961
        Incirlik AB, Turkey 9Mar 1962 - 5 May 1962

It was at Forbes that Howard met Sandra Lea Nelson, the daughter of Lt. Col. Richard Gasser Nelson, USAF, Ret. and Bernice Eleanor Sailor of Preston, MN.  At the time Lt. Col. Nelson was the Base Operations Officer at Forbes.  Howard and Sandra were married on 19 August 1961 in Miami, OK.  They lived in a rented home at 1932 Harp Place, Topeka, KS.  Howard was promoted to 1st Lt. on 25 May 1960.
    Howard was transferred from Forbes on 21 June 1962.  He and Sandra went first on temporary duty to Castle AFB, Merced, CA for KC-135A Combat Crew Training, ground school, and then to Walker AFB, Roswell, NM for flight training.  Their son Richard Howard was born at the base hospital on 14 September 1962.
    On 12 October 1962, Howard reported to his operational unit, the 407th Air Refueling Squadron, 19th. Bomb Wing, Homestead AFB, Homestead, FL, where he was assigned to a KC-135A flight crew.  The family lived for a couple of weeks in a rented home in Leisure City, just outside the base.  They then bought a home at 8975 S.W. 199 Street, Miami, 57 FL., in Whispering Pines, were they lived until June 1967.  Howard was promoted to Captain on 25 May 1963.  From 11 March 1964 until 1 April 1964, he attended the USAF Survival Training Course at Stead AFB, Reno, NV.  The family lived temporarily in Montgomery, AL while Howard was attending Squadron Officers School at Maxwell AFB AL from 7 September 1964 until 18 December 1964.  Howard and Sandra's second child, Julia Christine, was born 4 September 1965 at the Homestead AFB hospital.  His temporary duty tours while at Homestead were as follows:

        Torrejon AB, Spain 15 Apr 1964 - 9 May 1964
        Hickam AFB, Hawaii 15 Jan 1965 - 21 Jan 1965
        Goose AB, Canada 18 Feb 1965 - 20 Feb 1965
        Kadena AB, Okinawa 25 May 1965 - 25 Jun 1965
        Goose AB, Canada 19 May 1966 - 27 May 1966

    During the Kadena tour, Howard flew combat missions out of the Don Muang International Airport at Bangkok, Thailand from 11 June until 19 June and stayed at a hotel in downtown Bangkok.
    On 30 June 1967 Howard was assigned to Bayshore Radar Bomb Site, Bayshore, MI as an Operations Officer, a non flying position.  The family lived for a short time in Charlevoix, MI and then moved into a rented home at 413 Pearl Street, Petoskey, MI.  Howard's first temporary duty from Bayshore was to a Radar Bomb Scoring Express unit located in Bobo, MS as the Operations Officer.  The RBS Express was an 18 car railroad train equipped with bomb scoring radars and facilities for the crew.  The Express was later moved to Wellsville, MO.  Howard served on the train from 9 August 1967 to ?? 1967.
    On 4 December1967, Howard was assigned temporary duty to Binh Thuy AB, Republic of Vietnam as a Combat Skyspot Controller.  In this position, with a crew of eight men, and using radar tracking, he directed the release of bombs from fighter aircraft and B-52 bombers. During a week break in the middle of this tour, Howard flew to Naha AB, Okinawa to visit with his in laws, where Lt. Col. Richard Nelson was the commander of a C-130 unit.  Howard returned to Bayshore on 28 May 1968.
    On 17 November 1968, he was again assigned to temporary duty in Vietnam. This time to Binh Hoa AB until 1 March 1969 and then to Hue Phu Bai until May 1969.  At both bases he was a Combat Skyspot Controller. At Hue Phu Bai he and his crew directed the first B-52 Arc Light strike into Cambodia to attack North Vietnamese troops in sanctuary areas along the South Vietnamese border.  Again during a week break he was able to visit his in-laws in Okinawa.  Howard returned to Bayshore on 7 May 1969.  Howard and Sandra's third child, William Michael was born on, 25 June 1969 at the Lockwood-MacDonald Hospital in Petoskey, MI.
On 31 July 1969, Howard was transferred to Plattsburgh AFB, Plattsburgh, NY and back to flying duty as a KC-135A navigator.  He was assigned to the 380th Air Refueling Squadron, 380th Bomb Wing where he later served as a Standardization/Evaluation Instructor Navigator.  While waiting for base housing, Sandra and the children stayed for a short time at Howard's parents summer cottage at Short Beach, CT.  Then the family moved into base housing, first at 217B New Jersey Street and then at 184C U.S. Oval.  Howard was temporarily assigned to Castle AFB, Merced, CA from 16 September 1969 to 19 December 1969 to retrain as a KC-135A navigator.  He was promoted to Major in October 1969.  Howard's other temporary duty tours were as follows:

        Goose AB, Canada 11 Feb 1970 - 18 Feb 1970
        Goose AB, Canada 17 Mar 1970 - 24 Mar 1970
        U-Tapao RTNB, Thailand 7 Aug 1970 - 6 Nov 1970
        Goose AB, Canada 25 Nov 1970 - 2 Dec 1970
        Goose AB, Canada 24 Nov 1971 - 1 Dec 1971
        Clark AB, Philippines 19 Dec 1972 - 20 Jan 1973
        Goose AB, Canada 12 Feb 1974 - 20 Feb 1974
        Anderson AFB, Guam 5 Apr 1974 - 13 Jul 1974
        Goose AB, Canada 13 May 1975 - 20 May 1975

    Howard and Sandra were divorced in September 1974.  Sandra remarried, and Richard, Julia and William lived with her and her new husband and remained at Plattsburgh AFB.  On 1 November 1974, Howard married Wilberta Janet Stoeckle (Billie).  Billie had two boys, Michael Christopher Schmidt and Jon Barton Schmidt.  The new family moved to a rented home in West Chazy, NY a few miles north of Plattsburgh.  On 31 July 1975, the family was transferred to Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA.  Howard was assigned to the 912th Air Refueling Squadron, 19th Bomb Wing as a Standardization/Evaluation Navigator in the KC-135A Tanker.  They lived in a home that they bought on 6 August 1975 at 206 Westwood Drive, Warner Robins, GA.  Later Howard was assigned to the wing staff position of Tanker Scheduling Officer, where he was responsible for all flying activity of the 912th ARS.  He served a temporary staff duty assignment to Ramstein AB, Germany from 13 March 1979 to 31 March 1979.

    Howard retired from the USAF on 1 July 1979 after serving for 21 years, 5 months and 25 days. All of his service, except for initial training, was in the Strategic Air Command. They sold their home in Warner Robins on 24 July 1979.

    A month after his retirement, the family moved to Wilmington, NC, and lived in a townhouse at 4905 Marlin Court in Stonesthrow.  They had bought the townhouse on 31 August 1978 and a lot in Echo Farms in Wilmington about a year before retiring.  On 31 March 1980, Howard and Billie bought a new home in Arjean By the Sound at 705 Ramblewood Lane, Wilmington, NC. They sold the lot in Echo Farms and the townhouse in Stonesthrow.

    In retirement, Howard operated a small construction and home maintenance business.  For a year, he managed The Stonesthrow Homeowners Assn.  In December of 1990, Howard, Billie, Michael, Jon and Michael's wife Toni, as partners, formed Tax Advantage Tax Filing Service.  They operated this business at 2642-8 Carolina Beach Road, Wilmington, NC until April 1994.