Alan Price

Alan, a self-proclaimed Georgia cracker, joined us from the coastal Georgia city of Brunswick (half way between Savannah and Jacksonville!) and spent his first two years in 6th Squadron before moving to 22nd Squadron for his Second Class year. Alan volunteered

to move to the new dormitory, Sijan Hall, and help stand-up 30th Squadron, one of the six new Cadet Squadrons activated in the beginning of our First Class year. Alan has a passion to learn and his academic efforts resulted in being on the Dean's List the majority of the time, and the Superintendent’s list some of the time. It was not all work and no play as Alan related in this story during our ZI Field Trip.

          After graduation, it was off to Pilot Training at Williams AFB AZ then to McChord AFB WA where Alan was a C-141 pilot in the 4th Military Airlift Squadron. Alan's next assignment was to Clark Air Base in the Philippines as a C-130 aircraft commander in the 774th Tactical Airlift Squadron, spending most of his first year deployed to various bases in South Viet Nam and Thailand. When the 774th TAS stood down and disbanded, he chose to remain at Clark for a 2nd year as the 405th Fighter Wing Life Support Officer, flying base flight T33’s. Returning to the states for life support training, he married his fiancée (Marlee Jane Beard) who joined him upon returning to Clark. It was during his second year at Clark the POW's were released from North Viet Nam and arrived at Clark AB - read his terrific account of it here.
           After an all-night encounter with the Philippine Army (a week into their marriage) they were both nearly shot by “friendly fire”. Arriving back at their home near Clark AFB around dawn, Marlee announced to Alan “that’s it, I’m going home!” But, cooler heads prevailed and Alan and Marlee had a great year in the PI, traveling broadly to Hong Kong, Thailand, the Malaysian Peninsular, and Singapore. As those of us who lived through this era know, the home is furnished from the orient in “early MAC!”
           In 1973, Alan separated from active duty and relocated to Atlanta in his home state of Georgia. While in the commercial real estate business and then an account executive with Merrill Lynch, he joined the Air Force Reserve as a C-141 pilot with the 707th Military Airlift Squadron (Reserve) at Charleston AFB SC. He continued to fly with in the Air Force Reserve until retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1990.

Alan joined Delta Airlines as a pilot in 1977 and progressed through a number of flying positions including Captain on the Boeing 777, pilot manager of the Crew Resource Management (CRM) program, developer and manager of Delta’s new captain’s leadership course (“In Command”), and Atlanta Chief Pilot for Delta Airlines during “911” – a challenging, but incredibly rewarding position.
Alan retired from Delta in 2004, and created Falcon Leadership, a leadership-consulting firm he founded and leads. One of his main areas of involvement has been

importing the core concepts of CRM (teamwork, communication, leadership, and decision making) into health care organizations, and speaking to various groups on the topic of “Leadership For A Time Of Crisis”, a passion of his since his experiences as Chief Pilot during “911”. Working through Falcon Leadership and more recently with LifeWings, Inc., Alan has worked in over two dozen hospitals over the past 15 years to improve patient care while saving lives. Who would have ever thought a military and airline pilot from South Georgia would wind us as a healthcare safety consultant?
          Alan married Marlee Jane Beard on 18 October 1972 in Yakima, WA, Marlee’s hometown, and this coming October will mark their 48th year of marriage. Marlee is an incredible person, a registered nurse of distinction, and a great wife and mother. Although she is officially retired from nursing, Marlee has become the “go to” medical consultant for family and friends. Her nursing career has taken her from teaching pediatric nursing in Tacoma, WA, to service as an ER nurse for over 20 years in Marietta, GA.
          Marlee’s main interest outside of her family and career has always been gardening. Plants love Marlee and she loves them. As a certified “Master Gardener”, she is frequently called into service to assist community projects and individuals with plant-based needs and questions. She is the past president of the Mountain Ivy Garden Club, and most recently, consulted on a greenhouse restoration project for a local men’s drug and alcohol recovery shelter. A good friend and daylily hybridizer was so fond of Marlee he named a newly hybridized daylily after her – you can now purchase a beautiful yellow daylily called “Marlee Jane” from Kennesaw Mountain Nurseries! So as not to slight Alan, the friend also named a daylily after Alan – “Col. Price” is another great addition to the daylily world. What couple has two daylilies named after them?
           Daughter Meredith is married to Reuvan Levitt and they have two children, Ethan Sky and Naomi Jade. The family had lived in Tel Aviv, Israel for the past 12 years, but recently moved to Portugal and just purchased a home in Lagos on the SW Atlantic Coast. Meredith is a writer and website consultant; Reuven is a tech genius and has developed several web-based companies. His father, Dr. Michael Levitt, is a Stanford professor and a 2014 recipient of the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Looks like Alan and Marlee have another travel destination to enjoy while visiting their grandchildren.
          Alan and Marlee make their home In the NE Georgia mountains on beautiful Lake Rabun, two hours NE of Atlanta, but plan to relocate to a smaller dwelling later to free themselves up to travel the world and spend time in Portugal with Meredith and family.