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Robert F. Anthis  '54

No. 19814February 8, 1931 - March 22, 2011

Died in Muskogee, OK

Interred Ft. Gibson National Cemetery, Ft. Gibson, OK

Robert Felts Anthis, born Feb 8, 1931 in Muskogee, OK, as the youngest of five children born to Ernest and Elizabeth Anthis, was last but not least. Growing up in the heartland, his chores as a youth included milking cows, picking cotton, and feeding the chickens. Other interests included tennis, band, and building model airplanes. He met his childhood sweetheart, Jean Black, in first grade, made her a paper airplane in third grade, and took her to watch him fly his model planes on dates in high school. After graduating from Muskogee High School in 1949, Robert attended Oklahoma A & M College (now Oklahoma State University) for a year before receiving an appointment to West Point. The same year that Robert entered the Academy, his brother Louis, Class of 1948, was killed in the Korean War and posthumously awarded a Silver Star. Robert was in Beast Barracks when the authorities delivered word of his brother’s death and asked him whether he would prefer to resign from West Point given the circumstances. He responded that he wanted to remain in the Corps of Cadets as a member of the Class of 1954. He graduated on Jun 8, 1954, married Jean Black of Muskogee ten days later, and started his military life in the Armor branch.
 

After Armor Basic at Ft. Knox, KY, he completed airborne school at Ft. Benning, GA, and joined the 1st Armored Division at Ft. Hood, TX, where oldest son Stanley was born. In 1956, the 1st Armored Division was sent to Ft. Polk, LA. Subsequent orders for the 14th Armored Cavalry in Fulda, Germany, near the East German border resulted in a three-and-a-half year tour and the addition of two daughters, Carolyn and Susan, born in Frankfurt. They stayed at Ft. Knox long enough for Robert to acquire a private pilot’s license before moving to Lafayette, IN, to attend Purdue University, where Robert received a master’s degree in industrial psychology and their youngest daughter, Janet, was born. During 1962-65, Robert joined the faculty at West Point, taught Military Psychology and Leadership, and used his building skills at their quarters by installing an outdoor patio and garden box made of rocks picked up from around West Point.


With Rob’s orders to Vietnam, the family returned to Muskogee, where both sets of parents lived, and their youngest son, Stephen, was born. As advisor to the Vietnamese Army in Phu Yen province, Robert, always pragmatic, initiated “Operation Neckerchief,” with assistance from friends in his hometown. They sent red neckerchiefs for friendly troops to wear to distinguish them from the Viet Cong. Robert later went to Command & General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, and stayed on to teach in the Department of Command. Robert’s passion for flying and aviation education continued in Kansas with the addition of a commercial pilot's license. Another outdoor patio was engineered and constructed. During a Korean tour as battalion commander, Robert re-kindled his tennis talent and detoured to Japan for a men’s doubles tennis tournament that he and his partner won. Returning to Ft. Knox as a battalion commander, he took time to build a falcon aviary for daughter Carolyn behind their Fifth Avenue housing, even though he was not a bird enthusiast. His last military move was west, to Boise, ID, for recruiting duty, retiring from there as a lieutenant colonel in 1976.
 

After retirement, Robert combined his teaching and business expertise with his love of flying and spent nine years in the aviation business as a flight center owner/operator, instructor, and charter pilot. Covering the mountain west area, he flew
professional rodeo cowboys, congressmen, TV reporters, “Feds” looking for drug growers, firefighters, ecologists and anyone who needed quick transportation. He started a fog-seeding operation to clear the skies for the airlines flying into the Boise airport, with his sons assisting by dropping the dry ice from the airplane into the fog.


In 1985, Robert and Jean moved back to their roots in Muskogee, OK, where Robert employed his leadership skills running the family’s land and oil and gas businesses. With all five children graduating from Oklahoma State University, Robert found it easier to travel to football games and visit his children by flying his personal airplane, with his licensed co-pilot Jean as navigator. Some people went for Sunday drives; Robert went for Sunday lunch anywhere he could fly to. Robert was proud of his 4,500 accident-free flying hours and, before age affected his flying ability, decided to sell the airplane, to the dismay of all those who flew with him. Building projects now incorporated remodeling Jean’s old family homestead to accommodate an extended family that included 20 grandchildren.


In 2004, after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, Robert was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Slowing down but never quitting, he stayed active: traveling, volunteering at church, growing corn, supporting political campaigns, and reviewing books. In 2009, Robert and Jean went back to West Point three times in one year—for his 55th class reunion, for his grandson Jeffrey Laughlin’s graduation, and for Jeffrey’s wedding in the Cadet Chapel in December.
 

Robert’s greatest legacy was his family, built on a firm foundation. They loved the military life, treasured his leadership by example, respected his hard work and service to others, shared in his joy of flying and love of a good time, and admired his steadfast devotion to his wife of 57 years. Surrounded by wife and children, on March 22, 2011, the “small town Southern man” flew home to the glory of God.

— His family and friends
 

Originally published in TAPS, SUMMER 2012

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