Dean Strother went from Winfield High to four-star general
The Winfield native led North American Air Defense Command; the county airport is named for his brother.
By Jolene Marquardt
Dean Coldwell Strother was born in Winfield in 1908, graduated from Winfield High School in 1925 and went to Southwestern College until 1927, when he was appointed to West Point.
He served in the Army Air Forces in World War II and became a four-star general in the Air Force. From 1962 to 1965 he was the U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee. From 1965 to 1966 he commanded the North American Air Defense Command and the Continental Air Defense Command.
The airport between Winfield and Arkansas City carries the family name, but it honors his younger brother, Donald Root Strother, the first Army Air Corps pilot from Cowley County to die in World War II.
Gen. Strother died in 2000.