60th Contracting Squadron passes 15-year mark without DUI

  • Published
  • By Jennifer Brugman
  • 60th AMW Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  It is a story that has been passed around the 60th Contracting Squadron for years. It is retold each time a new person comes along. It’s mentioned at commander’s calls and the people who tell the story say the same words over and over until these words are worn round and smooth like the rocks in a river. 

They’re a little fuzzy on the dates but these people are certain about the details. 

Twelve years ago, the 60th CONS commander, Col. Byard Bower, was driving home from an after-school awards ceremony at Golden West Middle School with his wife and three children. It was about 7 or 8 p.m. when the colonel turned left onto Air Base Parkway from Peabody. A drunken driver ran the red light, t-boning the van. Colonel Bower’s daughter Nicole suffered brain damage; his son Brian had a ruptured intestine. Seven-year-old Nick, who was closest to the impact, died a day later. 

“The whole thing was just senseless,” said Ms. Pam Fry, contracting specialist who has been at Travis since 1991. It was the drunken driver’s third or fourth DUI, according to Ms. Fry. The story has reverberated through the squadron since the accident. 

The 60th CONS has not had a DUI for 15 years as of May 1. 

“Nobody wants to break that streak,” Ms. Vicki Poore, contracting specialist who has been at Travis since the early 80s. 

Ms. Vallarie Kilkenny, contracting specialist, was hired by Colonel Bower in 1995. He told her about the accident. 

“I recognized it was something that changed his life forever and was so near to his heart,” Ms. Kilkenny said. “It has really made a lasting impression with me for Colonel Bower to have shared that tragic day.” 

The 60th CONS has approximately 40 people, half of which are active duty. 

“It’s so easy to go out and party when you’re young and not think about the consequence,” Ms. Kilkenny said. “The active-duty people here are very mature, responsible.” 

“I don’t know anyone who was here then that would drink and drive,” Ms. Fry said.
Colonel Bower retired and currently lives in Seattle, Wash. He says that 12 years later he and his family still feel the hurt in their daily lives but they try to move on. 

“Hopefully, there is more of a culture wherein everyone looks out for each other,” Mr. Bower said. “60th CONS should be lauded and held up as a sterling example of not drinking and driving, not an oddity for unusual behavior.”