Hugh Thetford

Hugh Thetford re-united with his high school sweetheart and wife of 51 years on Saturday, February 21, 2015. His time on earth embraced a life filled with challenge, courage, hard work, reward, loss, and most of all, love. Hugh, a child of Dustbowl, Oklahoma, moved with his parents and brothers to California where his father sought better prospects. Upon our nation’s entry into World War II,the family returned to Oklahoma, but his father stayed behind helping found the renowned Navy Seabees. In Holdenville OK, he followed in the footsteps of his father, Ty, on the baseball diamond. Catching the eye of a feisty redheaded lass: a decades-long love affair was born. After high school, in 1948, Hugh joined the 45th Infantry (Thunderbird Division), Oklahoma Army Nat'l Guard; then the U.S. Air Force in 1950. In early spring 1951 he married Janice Lee Crews, receiving son, Phillip that year for Christmas. Overseas service and family challenges only served to strengthen the new dad's devotion to his family, welding an everlasting bond between Hugh and Janice. Baby boy Richard arrived at Thanksgiving, 1957 and Dad’s world got more complex than ever. In time Hugh's Air Force service took him and family to far away Okinawa, then the Golden Gulf Coast, teaching new generations of Airmen at Keesler AFB. Dad retired at Keesler in 1978 after 30 years of meritorious military service. He went back to school completing his college degree (with just a little help from Janice on term papers ). Hugh entered Civil Service at Keesler eventually managing the Aviation Resource Management Office for another 20 years. His love and devotion to Janice never waivered; at her side till her final battle with cancer. Hugh was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Wayne. Survivors include his brother, Jack, his wife Barbara and their Texas family; a son, Phillip, daughter-in-law, Mary and granddaughter, Geneva; a son Richard, daughter-in-law, Betsy Hoit-Thetford, their son Jimmy; and a wealth of friends and acquaintances too numerous to name, each with stories and memories of an Oklahoma man who lived, loved, and left this life just as he lived it – on his own terms. Visitation will be on Sunday, March 1, from 6pm until 8pm, for family and friends, at the Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home. On Monday, March 2, there will be an 11 am chapel service in the funeral home. Burial will follow in Biloxi National Cemetery.