USAF Henderson Obituary

Henderson, Jr., USAF, (Ret.)
COL THOMAS K. HENDERSON, JR., USAF, (RET.)
April 3, 1959 December 12, 2020
Thomas K. Henderson Jr., 61, of Colorado Springs, Colorado passed away on December 12, 2020, after a brief illness. Tom was born on April 3, 1959, to Thomas K. Henderson, Sr. and Georgia L. Humes in Portland, Oregon.
He graduated from Portland State University with a degree in History and later earned a Master's degree from California State University, Sacramento.
Tom proudly served thirty years in the Air Force, beginning his career as a B-52 navigator at Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) in Spokane, Washington. From there, his assignment took him and his family to Mather AFB in Sacramento, Randolph AFB in San Antonio, Texas, and Hurlburt Field, Florida where he was a special ops. navigator on the MC-130.
Tom continued his Air Force career as a reservist at Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs, where he was commander of the 302nd operations support squadron. Next, he went on to USNORTHCOM where he was Command Center Director from January 2010 until his retirement in June 2015. Throughout his service he received numerous medals, including: Meritorious Service Medal, The Defense Meritorious Service Medal and The Defense Superior Service Medal. At the time of his passing, Tom was a Senior Technical Project Manager with Millennium Engineering and Integration Company.
Tom will be remembered for his love of skiing the Rocky Mountains, The Colorado Avalanche, The Denver Broncos, The Colorado Rockies and his home state college football team, the Oregon Ducks. Additionally, his passion for classic rock and literature will live on through his daughters, with whom he shared many albums and books.
He is survived by his loving wife of thirty-three years, Lynda; daughters, Atty. Kristine (Taylor) Shilts of Monterey, California, Alexis A. Henderson of Denver, Colorado, and Rachel G. Henderson of Colorado Springs; his father, Thomas (Dorothy) Henderson Sr. of Portland, Oregon; stepfather, Steve Humes of Rohnert Park, California; and sisters, Linda Henderson of Santa Rosa, California, and Paige (Hashim) Yahya of Rohnert Park, California.
Tom was preceded in death by his mother, Georgia L. Humes.
A Celebration of Life and burial at Pikes Peak National Cemetery with full military honors will be announced at a later date.
Memorial contributions in Tom's memory may be made to The Salgi Esophageal Cancer Research Foundation, The American Cancer Society, or RezDawg Rescue.
His family is forever grateful for all the overwhelming support from friends and family during this challenging time. Tom remains forever in our hearts, always our inspiration.