Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Neil Hockenbarger, 26, died early Thursday morning after his car collided with a utility pole on Michigan Street north of I-70. Police declared him dead at the scene. Tiffany, Hockenbarger’s wife of three and a half years, was riding in the passenger seat and was treated for minor injuries.
Hockenbarger, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, was attending the University through the Airman Enlisted Commissioning Program, a highly competitive scholarship program that allows enlisted personnel to transition to the officer ranks while completing an undergraduate program.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Neil Hockenbarger was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and engineering student at the University.
Lt. Col. Gena Stuchbery, commander of the KU Air Force ROTC program, said Hockenbarger was a man of integrity, hard work and dedication.
“He wanted to be a leader,” Stuchbery said. “He had obviously worked pretty hard to get here.”
Hockenbarger’s parents remembered him as an outgoing, gregarious man who demonstrated a wide range of aptitudes throughout childhood.
“He was my book of knowledge,” Joan Hockenbarger, Neil’s mother, said. She said Neil was identified as a candidate for gifted student programs as early as kindergarten, was a member of the Future Business Leaders of America and was the first student at his middle school to attend the Kansas State Geography Bee in Manhattan. Growing up outside of Leavenworth, he broke school records in the triple jump and high jump as a member of the Pleasant Ridge High School track and field team.
Hockenbarger enlisted in the Air Force in July 2000 and left for basic training immediately after high school.
“He knew the Air Force would pay for his education, but it wasn’t just that,” Dean Hockenbarger, Neil’s father, said. “He was proud to serve his country. He was very proud of that uniform he put on.”
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hockenbarger deployed to Saudi Arabia. After returning to the United States, Hockenbarger left active duty to attend the KU School of Engineering on an ROTC scholarship. Soon after accepting the scholarship, Hockenbarger began dating a woman named Cherith. When Cherith was diagnosed with cancer, Hockenbarger married her, surrendered his scholarship and returned to active duty in the Air Force so that Cherith could receive medical coverage.
“That just shows you what kind of man he was,” Dean said.
“He gave up his scholarship to save her life,” Tiffany said.
Despite extensive medical treatment, Cherith died less than a year after she and Hockenbarger were married.
Hockenbarger later met Tiffany, whom he married in Oklahoma City in March 2005.
“I was working in a sports nutrition store,” Tiffany said. “He just came in and asked what I was doing that night. I told him it was a girls’ night, and I gave him my number. He called me five days later, and the rest is history.
“He was different from everybody,” Tiffany said. “Genuine. He truly did care about others before himself.”
A viewing will be held at Belden-Larkin Funeral Home in Leavenworth tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. A chapel service will be held in Hockenbarger’s honor at the Veteran’s Administration chapel in Leavenworth on Wednesday at 10 a.m., followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m. Hockenbarger will receive a full military funeral, and he will be buried at the Leavenworth National Cemetery.
He is survived by his mother, father, brother Brandon and wife Tiffany.
— — Edited by Lauren Keith
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