Chief Master Sergeant & Mrs. James E. Schwab Endowed Scholarship
CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT AND MRS. JAMES E. SCHWAB ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
James “Jim” Schwab enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and received his initial training in San Antonio, Texas, as a ground radar specialist. After his basic training, he was assigned to
Tachikawa Air Force Base in Japan, where he met his beautiful bride Catherine “Kay,” who was singing in the church choir on base. With all the red tape to go through to satisfy both the U.S. and Japanese governments, they were married three times in one week, with June 12, 1954, as the official date.
Jim’s career in the Air Force spanned thirty-three years in the radar/electronic avionics field, in which he rose to the highest enlisted rank in the Air Force. Going to night school for twenty-three years, Jim also received his bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in psychology in 1973 and a master’s degree in psychology in 1974. He concluded his career at Beale Air Force Base in California as the avionics maintenance squadron supervisor, servicing the famous SR 71 and U-2 Spy planes. He retired from the Air Force in 1984.
Kay was born in Tokyo, Japan, and has three brothers and two sisters. Her mother Ai was the monarch of the family and raised all her children during a time of war in Japan. Kay and her family fled their burning home during the U.S. bombing raids on Tokyo in World War II. In her early adulthood, Kay worked at Tachikawa Air Force Base as a seamstress and a housekeeper. She accepted the Catholic faith from friends at the church on base and has loved serving her new country, America, with Jim in the Air Force. Kay moved twenty-two times during Jim’s Air Force career.
Jim and Kay have four sons and several grandchildren. The Schwab Family has a long history of service in the Armed Forces. Jim’s father served in World War I in the Navy as an ensign and his son Dan served in the Army for 24 years and was the Professor of Military Science at Oregon State University from 1999 to 2003. The importance and impact of military service and a college education has played a significant role in the entire Schwab family, and through the generous donations of the Schwab sons and daughters-in-law, this scholarship is established in honor of Jim and Kay. The family—Mike and Shirle of Lake Arrowhead, California; Dan and Rochelle of Corvallis, Oregon; Tom and Linda, of Grand Terrace,
California.; and Jim and Michele of Fresno, California—takes great pride in awarding scholarship assistance to an Army or Air Force student in pursuit of a degree and service to our great country.