John Connor Watson, Capt USAF (Ret.) went home peacefully at 6:40 p.m. Friday, January 21st at the age of 75 surrounded by family in the comfort of his Leavenworth home. He courageously fought multiple myeloma for 5 years with endless support and care from his wife, Shirley.

Connor was born December 8th, 1946 to John Pleas and Elnor Lucille (Wilson) Watson in Lubbock, TX. Connor is one of 3 siblings.

Connor married Shirley Ann Payton on the 4th Day of April in 1969 in Lamesa, TX. Connor & Shirley have 2 daughters; Kimberly Vanek (Watson) of Platte City, MO. and Alicia Bledsoe (Watson) of Winter Park, FL.

After earning a B.A. in Psychology at T.C.U. in 1969, he was commissioned at North Texas University through ROTC. He was assigned to the 308th Strategic Missile Wing at Little Rock AB. He was a Titan II Deputy Combat Crew Commander and subsequently a Combat Crew Commander for the nuclear equipped multimillion dollar ICBM missile site. He was selected to be a Missile Launch Officer at Vandenberg, AB, for the last Titan II missile launch which was testing a new guidance system prior to the implementation into the missile fleet.

He earned a M.A. degree from Webster University in Human Relations in 1977. He was then assigned to the 603 Tactical Control Squadron at Sembach, GE. As Senior Director, he supervised radar control of aircraft, airspace management and command and control of the Tactical Air Control System (TACS) comprising 11 units in the German NATO 4th Allied Tactical Air Force area. He became the Wing Mobility Officer for the mobile TACS comprising 94 total units in 2ATAF, 4ATAF, and at Sembach, AB GE. He supervised logistical support, unit personnel and equipment standardization, unit mobility officer training, the mobility control center, and mobility processing for deploying units. He supervised the deployment of 227 personnel and 300 major equipment items in support of Reforger 80 and Oksboel 80 Joint Chiefs of Staff exercises. He developed USAFE approved standardized unit type codes (UTCs) for contingency airlift deployment of TACS units consisting of up to 185 personnel and 15 vehicles with loads. At the 602 Tactical Air Control Center, Bergstrom AB, he served as the Defensive Duty Officer and Chief of Standardization and Evaluation.  He supervised the certification/evaluation of over 100 squadron personnel. He was the exercise coordinator for System Training Exercises for Tactical Air Control System linked unit exercises in the U.S. At Rosecrans AB, Kansas, he was the Air National Guard primary instructor for classes in chemical warfare procedures. He was a Disaster Preparedness Supervisor in the USAF Disaster Control Group providing command and control during natural disasters, accidents involving nuclear/chemical materials, and recovery from base attack. He retired from Northrop Grumman (34 years) as a Work Area Commander in charge of Air and Aviation Workstations during Warfighter Exercises.  He was the OPFOR Aviation Subject Matter Expert and the trainer for new personnel. He augmented the General Support Team for functional validations and testing of the OPFOR air and aviation parameters. He was the OPFOR Air Trainer on the Mobile Training Team sent to Germany for Reforger 91 to train military personnel. He graduated from Command General Staff College in 1995. He retired from the Air Force in 1998 after serving 26 years.

Connor loved spending time with his family, traveling, capturing every moment on camera and making everyone around him laugh by cracking unexpected jokes at just the perfect time.

We will greatly miss our beloved Connor "Papa" with his sweet, quiet, caring and comforting demeanor, happy smile, amazing singing voice, and incredibly strong presence in our lives. He is now singing beautifully in heaven with Papa John & Lucy.

Connor is preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his beloved wife of 52 years, Shirley A. Payton; his daughter Kimberly R. Vanek (Watson) with husband Michael D. Vanek; his daughter Alicia N. Bledsoe (Watson) with husband John M. Bledsoe; his three grandsons whom he cherished; Austin M. Vanek, Nathan C. Vanek & Payton J. Vanek; his sister, Belinda Shuler; his brother Bradley Watson with wife Kelly Watson; Nieces & Nephews; Cole Shuler; Austin Shuler; Brook Shuler, Courtney Watson; Grand nieces and nephews; Lucille, Emery and Carter

A celebration of life to honor Connor will be held on Saturday, February  12th at 11:00 am at The Rock of Ages Church. A celebration of life lunch will follow at 12:30. This will be a true celebration of his wonderful life, please wear happy colors rather than black.

Memorial donations in Connor's honor may be given to: Multiple Myeloma Research

https://themmrf.org