Mark Edmond Rivers, Jr. – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force

From a contemporary press report:

A retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, who served in the Korean War and worked as an aerospace engineer in the Army, Air Force and with TRW, died January 26, 2002 in a hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Colonel Rivers worked as Vice President of the Metroplex Corporation in Washington, D.C. from 1988 to 1999. He moved from Arlington, Virginia, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2000. He was born in Washington, D.C., he was raised in New York City.

After studying at Columbia University, he graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1945. He received a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1956. He attended Command and General Staff College from 1959 to 1960.

Colonel Rivers served in the Armed Forces for twenty years and was President of the Watts Manufacturing Company from 1972 to 1977.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 42 years, Lois Johnson Rivers, in 1987, and his son, Mark E. Rivers, III in 1979.

Survivors include his two daughters, June Rivers Adams of Long Beach, California, Lynn Rivers Jackson of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and his grandson, Johnson Quarles of Mesa, Arizona.

A memorial service will be held Monday, February 25 at 10:30 a.m. in the Fort Myer Old Post Chapel at Arlington National Cemetery with inurnment to follow.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard