Surender D Kothakota

G- He was a good person. A great person. A great leader. I miss him every single day.

Surender wanted to fly from an early age. I recently found a picture of his 3d birthday cake. I decorated it with a plane and he insisted he be addressed as "Colonel" K. While this is a precious memory, I hope he is remembered as being a very nice person. No parent could ask for much more.

I am Surender's mother Margaret, but known to friends as Greta. He was not born in Tulsa, OK, but in Heidelberg, West Germany. His grandparents lived in Tulsa and I grew up there. At the time of his death, his father was no longer a MSG, but a Sergeant Major in the U.S. Army.