Posted by XXXXXX on May 7, 2008:

William P. Dougherty ’48 No. 16705 11 Oct 1925 – 30 Jul 2005 Died in Sacramento, CA Cremated. Interred in Woodland cemetery, Woodland, CA William Pinkerton Dougherty loved life and showed it through the passion and energy he devoted to his 79 years. Raised in Carmel, CA, he was high school valedictorian and a standout in football, basketball, tennis, and golf. After a year at Lafayette College, he entered West Point with the Class of 1947. With the end of the war and the return to a four-year curriculum, his class was divided, and Bill graduated in 1948. While he set no academic or military records, he savored the competition, camaraderie, and toughness of life in the Corps, and his gregarious enthusiasm won him countless friends. One of Bill’s greatest interests was racquet sports. His tennis teammates remember him generously pulling along younger members of the team; the quality of his own matches, normally won with a combination of fine play and tenacious competitiveness; and the three straight victories over Navy, the last when he captained the team in 1948. He also played on the squash team, teaching several squad members the basics of this game that was so new to them. From time to time, the Superintendent, MG Maxwell Taylor, would request a match. These were not Bill’s most enjoyable matches, and they sometimes ended with a shot to the Supe’s backside — for which Bill would apologize profusely. Although the Air Cadet program had been abandoned, Bill and a third of his classmates joined the brand new United States Air Force. As a flight candidate, his first assignment was to Lackland AFB, TX. In October 1948, he married the love of his life, Carol, and began six months of training in T-6s at Randolph Field, TX. In September 1949, after getting his wings at Williams AFB, AZ, he was assigned in Japan with the 35th Fighter Bomber Squadron. Carol and their first son, Dan, joined him in Fukuoka just before the outbreak of war in Korea. After flying F-80s in combat missions from Japan, Bill soon was flying from forward air bases on the peninsula. As a result of combat operations, F-80s became in short supply, and Bill’s squadron transitioned to P-51s that they flew into combat after only the briefest familiarization. Bill hoped to stay in Korea but was shipped back to the States when his 160 missions far exceeded the theater limit and earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross and 13 Air Medals. A transfer back to the Air Defense Command took him to Otis AFB, an accompanied tour, but then he went to Thule, Greenland, without the family, to fly F-94 interceptors. While the mission was to protect the country from a Russian attack, he spent much of his time intercepting American airliners that had strayed off course crossing the Atlantic. On one stormy night, he was sent to intercept an airliner. Bill formed up below the larger craft’s wing as the pilot was telling radar control that he was definitely not lost and that there certainly was no interceptor in the area. When Bill turned on his afterburner, the airline pilot’s voice rose a few octaves as he screamed, “OK, OK! Just get him away from me!” In 1953, as a captain, he resigned his commission and headed for Woodland, CA. The bulk of Bill’s life was devoted to ranching and farming in the Sacramento Valley. Initially a gentleman farmer, he joined his father-in-law in managing a 1500-acre rice and grain ranch. After flying jet fighters, Bill found that while he could handle the speed of a Caterpillar D7, he never could drive it in a straight line. By the end of the ’50s, his family was complete with three sons and a daughter. In 1960, he and the family spent a memorable year in Kitzbühel, Austria. The children went to Austrian schools, skied on the local ski teams, and traveled with their parents across Europe. Bill did abandon them for several weeks to take care of planting and harvesting back home. In the 1960s, Bill’s farm management expanded to apartment investment, cattle futures, ownership of a hotel, and — for a while — part ownership of an Arabian racehorse. By 1968, son Dan was at the Air Force Academy and daughter Devin, too, had started college. Bill moved the rest of the family to Aspen during the school terms for several years, in part so that younger sons Neil and Drew could spend more time on the ski slopes. In 1974, they built a house there but moved back to California after Drew left for college. When Neil started to show an interest in farming during his high school summers, Bill’s interest was rekindled. He started a bean-growing entity for Dan and Neil, and he won a major contract for tomatoes, inspiring him to devise innovative ways to maximize production. He instituted groundbreaking methods for leveling land using laser beams, was an early adopter of computerized farm accounting, and the first in the valley to use drip irrigation for row crops. Even after he retired, he continued to show an interest in his son’s business, managing its profit-sharing plan investments. Golf was always an important part of Bill’s life; he played in many state and national competitions as an amateur. When he retired in the early ’90s, it became even more important to him. He and Carol bought a condo in Palm Springs, where golf was a major element of their lives. How ironic that his death involved a tragic accident with a golf cart! Bill leaves his loving wife Carol; Dan and Neil, carrying on the farming business; Devin, an artist in New York; Drew, a consultant in San Diego; and nine grandchildren. They remember his ever-present sense of humor, his basic respect for fairness, and his total honesty. Bill was always a great risk-taker, a man with a mind of his own, and a passionate lover of life. What a fine credit to the Academy that shaped him! His family and a classmate

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