Major General Stephen Phelps Cortright USAF (retired) (born March 26, 1941), is an American

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

and

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

from

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

who served as the 17th

Adjutant General of Oklahoma The Adjutant General of Oklahoma is the highest-ranking military official in the state of Oklahoma, subordinate only to the Governor of Oklahoma. The highest officer of the Oklahoma National Guard, the Adjutant General is the principal advisor to t ...

under Governor Frank Keating from 1995 to 2003. Concurrent with his service as adjutant general, Cortright served in Keating's cabinet as the Oklahoma Secretary of the Military.

Education

Cortright received his bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University in 1964 and earned his

juris doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

in 1973.

Military career

Cortright joined the United States Air Force on February 14, 1964. On May 12, 1964, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and entered undergraduate pilot training at

Webb Air Force Base Webb Air Force Base , previously named Big Spring Air Force Base, was a United States Air Force facility of the Air Training Command that operated from 1951 to 1977 in West Texas within the current city limits of Big Spring. Webb AFB was a maj ...

in Texas. He is a command pilot with over 5000 hours of military flying time in the

T-33 The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

, T-37,

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, RF-4C,

F-100 F-100 or F100 may refer to: Aerospace and defense * North American F-100 Super Sabre, a fighter aircraft formerly in the service of the United States Air Force * Fokker 100, a regional jet * Pratt & Whitney F100, afterburning turbofan engine * ' ...

A-7 A7, A.7, A 7, A07 or A-7 may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * A7, the A dominant seventh chord used in many rock songs, see dominant seventh chord * A (musical note) * ''A7'' (mixtape), by SCH, 2015 * Avenged Sevenfold, a hard rock/meta ...

, and

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

aircraft. He flew 217 combat missions while serving in Vietnam from September 1966 through July 1967. Following the end of the Vietnam War, Cortright returned to Oklahoma and became the operations officers with the 125th Tactical Fighter Squadron in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He later became the squadron's commander. He then served as the commander of the 138th Tactical Fighter Group, also based in Tulsa. From 1988 to 1992, Cortight was appointed the headquarters commander of the Oklahoma Air National Guard. In 1992, he served as the Air National Guard Assistant to the commander, Pacific Air Forces at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

Dates of ranks

Keating administration

In 1995, Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating appointed Cortright to serve as the

, succeeding Gary Maynard. As adjutant general, General Cortright was the highest-ranking military official in Oklahoma, ranking only behind Governor Keating in his role as commander-in-chief. Cortright oversaw the

Oklahoma Military Department The Oklahoma Military Department is an agency of the state of Oklahoma that serves as the administrative agency for all matters concerning the Oklahoma National Guard. Under the authority and direction of the Governor of Oklahoma as commander-in-c ...

and the Oklahoma National Guard. Cortright remained in that position until the end of Keating's term in 2003. He was succeeded by Air Force general

Harry M. Wyatt III Harry M. "Bud" Wyatt III (born 1949) is a retired Lieutenant general (United States), lieutenant general of the United States Air Force (USAF) who last served as 14th Director, Air National Guard. He is also an attorney from Oklahoma and served a ...

Personal life

Cortright was married to his wife, Barbara Joyce (née Coleman). She was born in Tulsa February 22, 1943. Stephen and Barbara had four children, David, Tiffany, Heather and Adam, who all survive her. Barbara died on March 27, 2016, in Tulsa. Her ashes were placed at Fort Gibson National Cemetery, after a memorial service at Yale Avenue Christian Church in Tulsa.Obituary of Barbara Cortright. Nine Funeral Home.
Accessed October 23, 2017

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortright, Stephen 1941 births Living people United States Air Force generals State cabinet secretaries of Oklahoma Heads of Oklahoma state agencies National Guard (United States) officers Recipients of the Legion of Merit Oklahoma State University alumni University of Tulsa alumni Lawyers from Tulsa, Oklahoma Oklahoma lawyers Adjutants General of Oklahoma