Col. Kenneth E. Halloway Jr.

Kenneth E. Halloway, Jr. was born in Leavenworth, Kansas on July 22, 1933 to Kenneth E. Halloway and Dorothy Brown.  He was an only child.  His father was a career Army non-commissioned officer in the Coastal Artillery and Ken spent his childhood years on various Army posts that were on or near the water throughout the world.  The Army would be his life, as it was for his father and a number of members of his family.  Some of these postings included time in the Panama Canal Zone and a number of years at Fort Worden, Washington.  It was here he spent the majority of the Second World War, learning about the attack on Pearl Harbor from a first-hand account provided by his grandmother, who along with several aunts and uncles survived the attack.  During those years Ken played basketball and baseball in the Fort Worden youth league.

​After the war, the family was assigned to the Allied Occupation Force in Germany where a young Ken spent the first two years of high school in the Army (later the DoD) School system.  He continued his sports career playing on the varsity baseball and basketball teams. He was always handy with electronics and he developed a love of music, which runs in the family as several of his uncles played in Army bands, two of whom collaborated on the anthem for the later admitted State of Hawaii.  In mid-1949, Ken and his family were re-assigned to Fort Monroe, Virginia where Ken attended and graduated from Hampton High School in 1951.  He was very proud to be a “Hampton Crabber.”  It was during this time, that Ken developed an affinity for the Commonwealth of Virginia, liking the coast as well as the Blue Ridge Mountains.  He always considered it his second home.

​Growing up Army, there was but one place for a young man such as Ken to go – West Point.  However, the road to get there wasn’t straightforward.  His grades from his early high school years were average, but the teachers at Hampton High took an interest in him and changed his life.  He lifted his grade-point average enough to qualify for admission to West Point, but the appointment did not come.  Undeterred, Ken decided to ply his luck in the Alaska territory and took a job offloading boxcars.  In his off-time, he pursued engineering courses at the University in Fairbanks.  After a year, he had earned just enough money to attend the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for one year.  After all, the late General George S Patton, Jr. went there under similar circumstances.  So in July 1952, Ken “entered the Rat Line” at VMI.  Ken endured the typical “hardships” that befell a VMI Rat of that era, and earned recognition in June 1953.  However, his money ran out and with nowhere else to go, he returned home to Fort Monroe.

​His stay would not last long, for by the end of that month, the appointment to West Point that had eluded him for so long, finally arrived.  It had travelled a great distance in order to catch up with him.  By the time he received the notice, he barely had enough time to acknowledge his acceptance and board a train for West Point, to assume his place in the Class of 1957.  Yes, he had to endure a second consecutive year of being at the bottom, but his VMI experience of the previous year proved invaluable.  While at the Point, Ken and his roommate were noted for their vast array of “homemade” electronic gear, playing all the hits of the day from their barracks room.

​Upon graduation in June 1957, Ken headed to his first assignment in the Artillery as a forward observer for the 82nd Airborne Division.  He qualified as a Master Parachutist, something he would use throughout his career. After that tour, he earned a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Ken then spent a year in the Republic of Korea using his experience in the Artillery. Artillery duty however, would not suit his many talents, so Ken transferred into the Transportation Corps where he commanded a company of landing craft at Fort Eustis, Virginia.  Ken would then transfer into Military Intelligence where he would spend the remainder of his career.  After initial training, he was again sent to the Republic of Korea for service as an Intelligence Officer, followed by assignment to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas graduating in June 1968.

​Ken then took his family to the metropolitan Washington DC area where he took an assignment on the Army Staff as an Intelligence Area Action Officer and in 1972, was assigned a combat command as an Intelligence Battalion Commander in the Republic of Vietnam.  During this period, he was involved in the second Tet Offensive and the relief efforts for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in the surrounded provincial town of An Loc.  Upon his return from Vietnam, Ken again served in the Pentagon, then briefly on the Intelligence and Security Command Staff at Fort Meade, Maryland.

​Ken was then assigned to the 66th Military Intelligence Group, initially as its Executive Officer, then as Deputy Commander.  Ken and the family spent free time exploring Germany, Austria, and other places in Europe.  He returned to the United States in 1981, assigned as Deputy J2 for the US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, a place he would call home for the remainder of his life. He retired from the Army in 1985 after 28 years of service.  During his Army career, he was awarded the Legion of Merit; Bronze StarMedal; Meritorious Service Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters; Army Commendation Medal; National Service Defense Service Medal; Vietnam Campaign Medal (3 Campaigns); Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal; ArmyService Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal; Armed Forces Honor Medal (1st Class); Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross w/Palm; Republic of Vietnam Staff Service Medal (1st Class); Army General Staff Service Badge and the Senior Parachutist Badge.  Ken was also a graduate of the US Army War College.

After Ken retired from the Army, he settled in the Tampa area, where he met the love of his life, Virginia (see, there was a connection!) in the summer of 1983. He pursued certification as a Public Accountant, which required undergraduate and graduate study at the University of Tampa and attained his CPA certification.  As a CPA, Ken worked as an author for accounting textbooks and was an Income Tax Preparer. In their spare time, Ken and Virginia could often be seen windsurfing on the bay or the ocean. Ken then took a position with Lykes Lines at the Chief Financial Officer responsible for guiding that company through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and recovery.  He and Virginia moved to Temple Terrace in 1993 where they became active in the local community, especially in its politics.  Ken was a frequent speaker at City Council proceedings and became so involved in the process, he successfully ran for elective office as a City Councilman for the City of Temple Terrace in 2002.  He served two terms (the limit) and left the Council in late 2010.  His major accomplishments were improvements to the quality of life for the residents of the city and for the stewarding of the city center (or downtown) project.  After leaving Council, Ken remained active in city activities for the remainder of his life, a frequent fixture at the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club.  He was devoted to his love of music, (even learning to play the piano at age 77)and his love of family.

Left to cherish his memory are his loving wife Virginia, sons Kenneth III, John, and Bill, Step-Son Rahn, Step-Daughter Renee, granddaughters Morgan and Teri, and grandson Kenneth IV.

A  funeral service and celebration of life will be at 2:00 PM, Saturday, November 29, 2014 at the Temple Terrace Community Church, 210 Inverness Avenue, Temple Terrace, FL  33617 with Pastor Ted Fielland, to officiate.  The family will receive friends at the church from 1:00 PM until service time. At the conclusion of the service, full military honors will be provided by the United States Army Funeral Honors and Ceremonial Team from Fort Stewart, Georgia.

The family requests, that in lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Wounded Warrior’s Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675, in the memory of Colonel Kenneth E. Halloway Jr. – http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Veterans Funeral Care

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