Owen honored on 100th birthday

MOSES LAKE — Clyde Owen, the last commander of Larson Air Force Base, remembers the day President John F. Kennedy stopped in Moses Lake in late 1963.

“I was the official escort of the president when he came,” Owen told a packed meeting of the Rotary Club at the Moses Lake Golf Club’s Pillar Grill on Wednesday.

“He was on the ground for 30 minutes,” Owen continued. “Communication was not so good in 1963, so we had instructions from the Secret Service that he wanted a phone. So, we strung one out to the airplane.”

After talking for 10 minutes on the phone at the end of the very long wire unwound all the way to Air Force One, Owen said Kennedy came down and mingled with the crowd, shaking hands before getting back on his plane and leaving.

You’d think that would be the end of the story. But it isn’t.

“A Secret Service man gave me that phone, and I kept it. There was a guard who told me he wanted that phone, and after many years, I saw it gathering dust, I remembered and gave it to him,” Owen said.

“I saw that he’d sold it on eBay for $500,” Owen said.

The retired Air Force colonel was the guest of honor at a ceremony hosted by the Rotary Club of Moses Lake to celebrate his 100th birthday, to remember the long-time Rotarian and the first director of the Port of Moses Lake who many believe was instrumental in making Moses Lake the growing and even vibrant place it is today.

“This is to help remember who got us started,” said Port Commission President David “Kent” Jones.

Gathering to celebrate Owen were long-time Rotary friends and officials with the Port of Moses Lake, who honored him for his life-long work supporting aviation, especially bringing Japan Air Lines to train its pilots at the Port, a relationship that lasted nearly 40 years.

“From the bottom of my heart, I thank you,” said Chance Flanigan, a flight student at Big Bend Community College and a recipient of a scholarship Owen established to help young people pursue careers in aviation. “I hope one day I can inspire, lead and change the world as much as you have.”

Also there were a few airmen who served under Owen when he was the base commander were there as well. Such as Barry Kohl, who said he was stationed at the base library 1963 to 1965 and whose duty it was to answer the phones when Owen’s secretary went to lunch.

There were three phones, Kohl said. A black phone for regular calls, a yellow phone for “broken arrow” incidents — accidents involving nuclear weapons — and a red phone for alerts.

“I’m glad none of those phones ever rung,” he said. “I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

It was, however, a Rotary luncheon, and even as the club honored its oldest and longing serving local member, the stories and speeches were kept short and it was all done in a little more than an hour.

“Thank you all again,” Owen said. “I love you all and you’re all great friends.”

“Fifty-five years ago, when I was sent to Larson Air Force Base, I never dreamed I’d be here at 100,” Owen said of Moses Lake. “When I retired, my mind was made up. This is our town.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.