Lt. Colonel Kelly Lee DeLoache (USAF, Ret.)

Lt. Colonel Kelly Lee DeLoache, (USAF, Ret.), 80, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, husband of the late Linda Strickland DeLoache died Monday, February 18, 2013. The relatives and friends of Lt. Col. Kelly DeLoache are invited to attend his Funeral Service on Thursday, February 21, 2013 in J. HENRY STUHR, INC., MOUNT PLEASANT CHAPEL at 11:00 am. Burial will follow in Mount Pleasant Memorial Gardens with full military honors. The family will receive friends on Thursday at the Mount Pleasant Chapel from 10:00 until time of the service.

Lt.Colonel DeLoache was born on December 7, 1932 in Ashland Alabama, son of the late DeLacy Wymann DeLoache and Iva Lou Walker DeLoache. He graduated from Lafayette High School in 1950 and Southwest Louisiana Institute in 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He was commissioned into the Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant and while in the Air Force, completed his Master's Degree in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University. He was stationed at the Charleston Air Force Base in 1958 where he met and married his wife, Linda Strickland on September 10, 1960. He retired from the United States Air Force in 1976 after serving 22 years and obtaining the rank of Lt. Colonel. Lt. Colonel DeLoache served from 1958 to 1960 in C-141 Starlifters, as Navigator and then to Cape Canaveral in the Apollo Space Program. He served in Vietnam on C-130 Gunships during night maneuvers and was part of the Minuteman Program from 1973 to 1975 at Vandenberg Air Force Base. He was a member of the Masons and the First Baptist Church of Mt. Pleasant.

He is survived by his two daughters, Dolores(Lori) DeLoache Baney of Mount Pleasant, SC and Elizabeth DeLoache Townsend and her husband, Wade, of Florence, SC; one son, Mark Thomas DeLoache of Charleston, SC; six grandchildren, two great grandchildren and two sisters, Anne Strickland and Carol Lindeman, both of Texas. He was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Linda DeLoache.

In lieu of flowers, the family request that memorial contributions be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, Kansas 66675.