Kenneth R. Fleenor

SAN ANTONIO — Retired Brig. Gen. Kenneth Raymond Fleenor died Dec. 10, 2010, after a lengthy illness surrounded by his loving family.

He served 28 years as an Air Force pilot. In December 1967, his F-4 Phantom fighter jet was shot down near Hanoi. He was captured and spent more than five years as a POW. Enduring unimaginable starvation, isolation and torture, his faith in God helped him survive. Upon release from captivity in March 1973, he continued his Air Force career at Randolph Air Force Base, where he served as an Instructor pilot, wing deputy commander of operations, base commander, wing commander, and deputy chief of staff for operations air training command before retiring. In his retirement he worked for the governor as regional coordinator of the Texans War on Drugs and General Manager of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo and the Freeman Coliseum. Ken served on the board of directors of USAA, USAA Federal Savings Bank, USAA Real Estate Company and the Retama Entertainment Group. He served on the Selma City Council (1984-87) and as mayor of Selma (1987-94). Ken was a beloved father, Papa, and devoted husband to his precious Anne. He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends.

Funeral was today at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Selma, with burial in Holy Cross Cemetery on FM 2252 in San Antonio. Porter Loring Mortuary North is in charge of arrangements.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to Pulmonary Hypertension Association at www.phassociation.org or to the Wounded Warrior Project at www.support.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Survivors include his loving wife of 59 years, Anne Elizabeth Read Fleenor; his children, Katherine Thomas and her husband, Duane, John Fleenor and his wife, Mary, Patricia Wood and her husband, James, Kerry Horne and Kay Duc and her husband, Michael; 11 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and three sisters, Martha Gibbs, Patty Day and Joanne Ruff.