Memorial Mass for COL (Retired) Anthony G. Pokorny will be 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church with Rev. Roy Narisetti, associate pastor officiating.

Arrangements are under the direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home.

The family will greet friends from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm Tuesday at the funeral home.

A reception will follow the memorial service in the parish hall.

Anthony George Pokorny was born June 3, 1937 to Anton and Sylvia Pokorny.  He left us on June 21, 2017, continuing to his next adventure. His life was a series of careers, so we can be sure his next one is building a strategic plan for God and streamlining the heavenly processes.

Tony attended grade school in Algonquin, Illinois, with his favorite memory of that time carried on his right hand, a dark blue spot where Janet stuck a pencil in his hand.  He went to high school in Dundee, Illinois.  He often reminisced about the jazz band he led in high school, where the young trumpeter played all around the state.  His appointment to West Point was the beginning of another journey, one that also capitalized on his musical talent as he played trumpet with the Sentry Box Six jazz band in 1955.

Tony graduated from West Point in 1959, and began his next career as a Field Artillery Officer.  He went to Ranger School, taught computer science and drafting at West Point, attended the Naval War College so he could learn how to sail, he said, and of course, spent a few years in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division.  His time in Vietnam is best captured in the book, Into Cambodia, by Keith W. Nolan. Nolan quotes then-Colonel Morris J. Brady as saying, "… the amount of detailed fire planning was staggering … Most of the credit … must go to Major Pokorny, the division artillery operations officer.  The job normally goes to the sharpest lieutenant colonel not commanding a battalion.  Major Pokorny had the job simply because he was the brightest, hardest working, most dedicated officer that I have known.  Thank God, he was also tireless."

Tony won the Legion of Merit with Second Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star Medal with Third Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal with V Device, Vietnam Service Medal with three Service Stars, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, Parachutist Badge, Ranger Tab, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm, among many others. Tony also served Fort Sill as the Director of Combat Developments. The highlight of Tony's army career was serving as 2nd ID DIVARTY (2nd Infantry Division Artillery Brigade) Commander in Korea.

Tony's next career was the realization of a dream conceived at the Top of the Mark Hopkins bar in San Francisco, CA.  With Howard Rubin and Steve Doerfel, he built LB&M Associates.  The company grew from four people in a small office in downtown Lawton to over 300 people across the country.  Every Founder's Day in February, new employees were taken aside and the meaning of LB&M was whispered in their ears, never to be repeated to outsiders.  The meaning was part of a corporate culture that was a precursor to Google.  Laid Back and Mellow Associates remains a memory of a place where innovation and far-sighted thinking were focused upon and rewarded.

During the LB&M years, Tony chose the arts as his contribution to the community. He served as President of Arts for All for two years.  He also volunteered as a lighting designer/operator for the Lawton-Duncan Barbershop Chorus and for Lawton Community Theater.

He married Sandra Velasquez on March 3, 1997, cementing their "adventure buddies" avocation.  Already a lover of music, he learned to love visual arts, and Tony and Sandra became avid collectors.  Trips to Santa Fe and other art colonies were yearly events.  Even though Sandra does not swim, those who know Tony understand exactly how it was that they went white water rafting, snorkeling, and diving together.  Tony was an avid hiker, and Tony and Sandra joined a group of old Ranger School buddies on two 23 mile round trips down from Havasupi to the water falls in the Grand Canyon.

Tony's career included strategic planning for many organizations in Lawton, his adopted home, including Memorial Hospital and ASCOG.  He searched for a new career after selling LB&M, and found it at Cameron University, where he served as Director for Advancement.

His innovative thinking and well-known organizational skills won him his next career, as President of the Lawton Chamber of Commerce.  He laid the groundwork for the then non-existent Olive Garden and Target, as well as the initial strategic plan for the Second Street improvement.  He was working hard on those projects when he suffered a stroke while on vacation in Grand Cayman.

Even when his health forced his retirement, Tony became the de-facto Mayor of Brookridge Assisted Living, the Chateau of Lawton, and the Lawton Fort Sill Veterans Center, where he "counseled" everyone from the cooks to the administrative staff on streamlining procedures. While Tony was at Brookridge, he conceived his last and most treasured idea, the Circle of Buddies.  His vision was an organization of veterans who would serve as a guiding hand when a fellow service brother passed away, focusing on celebrating a life well-lived.

Tony lived his life to the fullest, and his legacy will be part of this community forever.  He is survived by his loving wife Sandra; daughter Melissa, her husband Alan and their sons Nate and Casey of Virginia; daughter Allison, her husband Rodney and their daughters Megan and Riley of Virginia; daughter Mikel, her husband Ryan, and their daughter Ester Wren of Austin; and daughter Jordan and her sons Thayer and Kai of Lawton. He is also survived by his daughter-in-law Brenda and her son Anthony of California.  Tony leaves behind his brother Howard and wife Collette of Illinois, and his brother Bill and wife Mary of Arizona and Illinois.  Numerous cousins, nieces and nephews cherish his memory.  Tony was preceded in death by his parents and his son Steven of Los Angeles. Special to Tony were his two godsons, Krys and Mykel, sons of his close friends Scott and Samantha Ormsbee. Tony's Class of 1959 Band of Brothers were always in his heart.

Tony's grandson Thayer said it best, "Tell them he was a great man."

The family asks that you remember Tony with gifts to the Circle of Buddies at the Lawton Fort Sill Veterans Center, 501 S.E. Flower Mound Road, Lawton, OK  73501.