Jesse S. Hocker

Brigadier General Jesse S. Hocker USAF-Retired passed away on Nov. 24, 2003, after a brief battle with cancer.

Gen. Hocker was born May 26, 1932, in Stanford, KY.

He attended school in Stanford and graduated from Stanford high School in 1950. He is a graduate of the University of KY, Class of 1954 with a BS in Business Administration. He was a member of Kappa Alpha.

Upon graduation he was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the Air Force through ROTC. He also had a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from George Washington University, Washington, DC.

His military service schools include Squadron Officer School, Industrial College of the Armed Forces and Air Command and Staff College. He entered the U.S. Air Force in Dec. 1954 and completed pilot training in Feb. 1956. During his 30 year career in the Air Force, he flew 25 different AF bomber, fighter, reconnaissance, tanker, cargo and trainer aircraft. A command pilot with over 8000 flying hours, he was an instructor pilot in the B-47 and B-52 bombers, and the F-4 fighter. He had flown the U-2, the TR-1 reconnaissance aircraft, and he was one of a small number of pilots in the world to have flown the SR-71 “Blackbird” which is the world’s fastest aircraft, cruising at three times the speed of sound. Gen. Hocker served tours in Vietnam both as a fighter pilot, flying the F-4C fighter and a bomber pilot flying the B-52 bomber. He flew a total of 227 combat missions. Career highlights include assignments as: Flight Commander – 12th Tactical Fighter Wing – Vietnam; Squadron Commander – 99th Bomb Wing – Westover AFB, MA; Director of Operations – 7th Bomb Wing – Carswell AFB, TX; Director of Safety for SAC – SAC HQ – Offutt AFB, Omaha, NE; Base Commander – 2nd Bomb Wing – Barksdale AFB, LA; Wing Commander – 379th Bomb Wing – Wurtsmith AFB, MI; Director of Command and Control – SAC HQ, Offutt AFB, Omaha, NE; Division Commander – 14th Air Division – Beale AFB, CA.

His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal with Two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Air Medal with 12 Oak Leaf Clusters.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Georgia Lee (Weedie) Hocker, and two sons, Jesse S. Hocker, III of Grapevine, TX and George B. Hocker and wife Kathy of Lexington, KY; three grandsons, Bo Hocker of Lexington, KY, and Jesse and Will Hocker of Grapevine, TX; brother-in-law Bill Cox and wife Frances of Lexington, KY.

After retirement from the Air Force in 1984, Gen. Hocker was employed in Dallas until 1988 by Intertek Service Corporation, one of the larges third party inspection firms in the United States. From 1988 to 1997 he was the owner and President of PetroChem International Corporation which specialized in refinery and pipeline inspection on a worldwide basis. He sold that business in 1997.

Gen. Hocker was a member of Irving North Christian Church where he served as a deacon and elder. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. at Irving North Christian Church on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003, with funeral and burial to be at a later date in Stanford, KY. Family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, MA, Irving North Christian Church or the American Cancer Society.