“We Miss The Sound Of Planes”

By: James Clark

We look back at the 10-year anniversary of when we said goodbye to Reese Air Force Base.

We continue our series of special reports on Reese Air Force Base. It was 10 years ago this week that Air Force officers held a special base closing ceremony. Reese is now a technology park, and that includes one campus of South Plains College. Lee Cox is both an associate dean for South Plains College as well as a retired air force officer. He was the base comptroller from 1985 to 1989.

The thing he remembers most is the friendship between the base and community. “I had 30 years of active duty so I had served numerous places. And I want to tell you that the relationship between Reese Air Force Base was the best that I ever experienced in my military career. It was just like being one big family.”

So when Cox retired as a Lt. Colonel he and his wife were so impressed with Lubbock that they came back. “We miss the sound of airplanes. For us retired folks who live here in Lubbock we miss the services that were available. Right now I work for South Plains College and my office is housed in what used to be the Base Exchange building when Reese was active. So, I guess in a sense, my job at South Plains College brought me back home to Reese.”

We also put in calls about half a dozen other retired air force officers who still live in Lubbock. So we hope a couple of those guys call us back and we can talk a little more about these memories of Reese. Reese Air Force Base… ending its tour of duty 10 years ago this week.

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Story Posted: Thu Sep 27 06:30:00 CDT 2007
Created: Thu Sep 27 06:38:50 CDT 2007