Retired Air Force Maj. Jon Lee Stem Box, 64, a man of faith and family, died 15 March 2021 after battling stage 4 glioblastoma brain cancer for more than a year. He was first and foremost a man of God. He believed strongly in living by faith and sharing his faith with others. The second most important thing to Jon was his family. One of eight children, he believed strongly in the significance of family. He constantly displayed that to his wife and four children. In his work life, Jon was one of the pioneers of the Predator UAV which changed the way people think about unmanned aircraft and the way the military uses them.
Funeral services for Jon, who retired in 2019 from SAIC where he specialized in warfighter integration and technology development outreach, will be held Saturday, March 20, at Twickenham Church of Christ, 7500 Whitesburg Dr SE, Huntsville, AL 35802. The visitation will be held at 12:00 p.m., followed by the funeral at 1 p.m. In addition, the service will be live streamed at https://www.twickenham.org/ for those unable to attend in person.
A 1979 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Jon was born 8 Feb. 1957 in Fort Worth, TX, to the late Donald and Mattie Box. He was the second of two sons and the sixth child of eight children. He graduated from Paschal High School near the top of his class after serving as captain of the football team and leading it to its first winning season in seven years.
At the academy, Jon served as cadet squadron commander his senior year and made the superintendent’s list for academic and military achievement. After pilot training at Vance AFB, he was assigned to the 100th Air Refueling Wing, Beale AFB, California. While there, he flew in support of worldwide SR-71 reconnaissance operations as a KC-135Q copilot and aircraft commander. In 1982, Jon married Captain Lynn Esther Rusch, and in 1984, the couple received a joint spouse assignment to the 376th Strategic Wing, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan.
In 1988 Jon and Lynn were assigned to 101 Squadron, RAF Brize Norton, U.K., where he flew VC-10K tankers as an exchange officer with the Royal Air Force. In 1990, he and his family returned to the United States, assigned to the 96th Wing, Dyess AFB, Texas. There he led DESERT STORM air refueling missions over northern Iraq while assigned to the 7440th Composite Wing, Incirlik AB, Turkey.
Later assigned to Nellis AFB, Nevada, he deployed multiple times to the Middle East and Eastern Europe in support of the Predator UAV program. Jon led a team that developed the methodology for using the then-new Predator, a highly modified remote-controlled aircraft equipped with an electro-optical camera and infrared and synthetic aperture radar sensors, for military reconnaissance. The Predator initiated a new era whereby an aircraft could fly into hostile areas to report battlefield conditions without jeopardizing crew members.
Jon was promoted to Major in July 1990. A senior pilot with more than 3,600 flying hours and 30 combat missions, his decorations include the Air Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Air Force Achievement Medal, Combat Readiness Medal with one oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, and Kuwaiti Liberation Medal.
Jon retired from the Air Force in 1999 and took a position as a UAV analyst and team manager with Engility. From 2001-2012 he worked for Scitor Corporation in Air Force RPA capabilities development and from 2013 to 2015 moved to Scitor’s defense intelligence warfighter support for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. He retired in 2019 after four years with SAIC in Huntsville, where he worked in warfighter integration and technology development outreach.
While living in the Washington, D.C. area, Jon served as an elder for the Fairfax Church of Christ, served as a Scoutmaster, initiated a men’s prayer group, and actively supported youth events. When he moved to Huntsville, Jon was an active member of the Twickenham Church of Christ, initiated another men’s prayer group, and served as a mentor to young men both in the congregation and in support of His Way Ministry, a Christ-based addiction recovery program. An avid runner and reader, he ran marathons in San Francisco, London, and Okinawa and collected and read books on a wide variety of topics. He was a member of the Air Force Association and the Air Force Academy Association of Graduates.
Jon is survived by his wife, Lynn; sons, Taylor Box of Los Angeles, CA, Geoffry Box and his wife, Kelly of Washington D.C., and Daniel Box of Maitland, FL; daughter, U.S. Air Force Major Elizabeth Box of Huntsville, AL; brother, Don Box of North Richland Hills, TX; sisters, Marquita Moss of Austin, TX, Melany Shook of Arlington, TX, Tahna Cody and husband, John Bob of Nacogdoches, TX, Camille Moore and husband, John of Australia, and Gayle Garza and husband Chano of Ringgold, GA; grandsons, Elijah and Canyon Box of Mt. Dora, FL; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sister Ramona Gilliland of Smithville, TX.
In lieu of flowers, Jon’s family is asking that donations be made to His Way, a Christ-based men’s addiction recovery program in which Jon served as a mentor. (http://www.hiswayinc.org/donate.html)
