Thomas Jack Keene

Captain Thomas Jack Keene, United States Navy (retired) died on Friday, February 12, 2016, in Murrieta, California, after complications from pulmonary fibrosis and a stroke. Jack lived an incredible life of 84 years with the highlight being his marriage to Mary for 58 years. Jack was beloved by many with his three greatest passions being the source of his joy - his faith in Jesus Christ, his family, and his career service in the United States Navy.

Jack Keene was born on January 8, 1932, in Los Angeles, California. Jack and his mother, Louise, were active members of Temple Baptist Church in Glendale. Jack graduated from Eagle Rock High School and attended both Glendale Community College and Cal State Los Angeles College. He joined the Navy in 1954 and was designated a naval aviator in May, 1955. A veteran at the zenith of the Cold War, he began his naval career as a fighter pilot flying both the F9F8 Cougar and the FJ-4B Fury jet aircraft. Jack accumulated 140 aircraft carrier landings on board the USS Shangri-La (CV-38), USS Oriskany (CV-34), and USS Midway (CV-41) aircraft carriers. He proudly served in the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis and other Southeast Asia operations as a fighter pilot in VF-63, VA-63, and VA-22 Navy squadrons. Transitioning to the land based mission of maritime patrol, Jack then flew the P-2V Neptune in Patrol Squadron TWO (VP-2) and deployed to Kodiak and Adak in Alaska, and Iwakuni Island in Japan. During the later deployment, he participated in the initial establishment of the Market Time air barrier and Yankee Teams operations in support of the Vietnam War in 1965.

In 1965, Jack was "hand-selected" to serve the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, on his staff in the Pentagon until 1967, and then moved out west to Fleet Air Wing 10 at Moffett Field, California, where he deployed to Sangley Point, the Republic of the Philippines. It was during this period that Jack transitioned to the Navy P-3 Orion combat patrol aircraft equipped to hunt Soviet Union submarines. Competitively selected by the Chief of Naval Operations, Jack was ordered to take operational command of Patrol Squadron TWENTY-TWO (VP-22) in Barbers Point, Hawaii. Reporting as the squadron's Executive Officer in March 1970, Jack took command in July 1971 and served as the squadron's 'skipper' until June 1972. While in command, VP-22 deployed to Naha, Okinawa and conducted extensive operations throughout Southeast Asia and Vietnam. VP-22 also was awarded the Chief of Naval Operations "Safety Award" for operating for more than 150,000 hours of accident free hours. In accepting the award, Jack remarked, "The CNO Safety Award is an honor but more than that, it is recognition of the hard work and long hours each of you have contributed to make the "Blue Geese" the most effective and safest squadron in the VP Navy."

In August of 1978, Jack was selected for major aviation command and became the Commander of all Naval Forces, Iceland. Commensurate with this assignment, he was dual-hatted as the Commanding Officer of Naval Station, Keflavik. He served in Iceland until 1980 when he then moved back to the West Coast and was assigned as the Chief of Staff, Patrol Wings Pacific at Moffett Field, California. In January 1983, Jack earned his third and final command tour as the Commanding Officer of Fleet Aviation Specialized Operational Training Group, Pacific Fleet (FASOTRAGRUPAC). During this command tour, he was responsible for over 1,000 personnel and multiple detachment sites assigned to deliver essential fleet aviation training in the operation and tactical employment of aviation systems and equipment for Navy and Marine Corps aircrew.

In addition to all his operational tours, Jack was a graduate and student at the US Naval War College (where he also completed a Master of Arts from Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island), US Navy Postgraduate School, the Foreign Service Institute in Washington D.C., and the Royal Norwegian Defense College.

Jack retired from the United States Navy in 1984 after a 30 year remarkable and illustrious career of service to our nation. During his career, Jack earned and was awarded the Legion of Merit (the Navy's 6th most highest precedence award for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements), the Meritorious Service Medal (given in recognition of Jack's superlative command tour in VP-22), the Joint Service Commendation Medal (given for his exceptional service on the Secretary of Defense staff), the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal among other unit citations and letters of commendation. Jack's deeply rooted patriotism and sense of selfless service would echo the sentiment within President Kennedy's famous quote - "And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worth-while, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.'"

As distinguished as Jack's military service was, more important to Jack was his family and his faith. Jack married the former Mary Woodbury of Oakland, California, on June 8, 1957. Theirs was a union written on the scrolls in heaven before time, and for the next 58 years they would set sail together on Navy and post-Navy adventures that would take them to every corner of the earth and just about every state in the country. During their time in the Navy, Jack and Mary lived in California, Kansas, Washington State, Hawaii, Washington D.C., Rhode Island, Iwakuni Japan, Oslo Norway, and Keflavik Iceland. After their three decades in the Navy, Jack and Mary (it seems like one word, not a phrase) would live in Coronado, Carmel Valley, Lake Arrowhead and Palm Springs, California, all before moving to Sierra Vista, Arizona, and then Wilmington, North Carolina. In each stop, they would immediately plug into the local Christian church. While Jack would often serve as the church's treasurer or handy-man or chef-in-charge of the fundraising BBQ, he was perhaps best known as 'that deep base voice of God' in the back row of the choir.

Jack was devoted to God's call, will and purpose for his life - and through the grace of Jesus Christ has most assuredly received the blessing of eternal life -

'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

- Gospel account of Mathew, Chapter 25 Verse 23.

Jack and Mary were gifted by God with three daughters, Linda, Sandra, and Holly - and together as a family they persevered with Navy moves and untold absences by Jack during deployments and detachments in times of peace and war. The Christian church and the people of the church were the center of their lives. Jack was one of the most principled and faithful men you could ever meet. His integrity and his faith were interconnected and rock solid. A man of his word with an impeccable work ethic, he was the loyal friend to countless shipmates, a brother in Christ to hundreds of fellow members of the church, and a faithful husband and father deeply devoted to his family - willing to sacrifice anything for their needs and their future.

To Mary, he was simply "My Hero."

His legacy and surviving family members are numerous, but principally includes: Jack's wife and soul partner of 58 years, Mary Keene; his three daughters Linda Keene Suttie (Richard), Sandra Keene Allen (Daniel), and Holly Keene Kapica (Jon); his seven grandchildren Kyle Suttie, Kaity Tait (Luke), Brian Allen, Christopher Allen and his fiancée, Coco Abrantes, Tommy Kapica, and Abby Kapica; and his three great grandchildren Lacey, Noah, and Emerson Tait.

Jack was blessed with an extended family of many beloved sisters-in-law, cousins, nieces, and nephews too many to list - but his generosity often extended to them and their families as well as his own.

Jack will be in interred at the Miramar National Veterans Cemetery in San Diego, California, but he is currently and forever will be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."