<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<p><em>Christopher Francis Kurek</em> was born June 30, 1954 in Brooklyn, NY to Frank and Stella Kurek. His family later moved to Merritt Island, FL, where he attended Merritt Island High School and received an appointment to the United States Military Academy in 1973.</p>
<p>During Beast Barracks, Chris was assigned to a squad that included a future Company E-4-member, Mark Ellis. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there was a marked resemblance between the two, often confusing upperclassmen. This confusion usually benefitted one over the other depending on who was being addressed. Of course, neither new cadet corrected the upperclassmen. Another classmate, Kevin McKeown, remembers Chris as a friend who helped him make it through Beast Barracks and West Point.</p>
<p>Assignment to Company E-4 was fortunate for Chris and even more fortunate for his other companymates who had the opportunity to spend three years with him. His E-4 classmates remember him as having a very dry sense of humor that kept them laughing, after they eventually figured out the joke. Chris’s faith in Jesus and the Catholic Church, along with his love for singing, led him to being a member of both the West Point Glee Club and the Catholic Choir. Unbeknownst to his fellow classmates in the Catholic Choir, Chris was an accomplished musician. Chris also played the organ in church.</p>
<p>Chris’s <em>Howitzer</em> remembers him as someone “always able to shed humor on the unpleasant, proficient in his ability to combine humor with cynicism. We once called him Kurek. The future will call him Caesar… and I say let Little Poland live on.” In his senior year, because of his excellent voice, he became the brigade ceremonies announcer. </p>
<p>Chris chose Field Artillery as his branch and spent his first assignment in Germany. He returned to the States, where he attended the Field Artillery Officer Advanced Course and was later assigned to Fort Ord, CA. He commanded two batteries while at Fort Ord, and he met his future wife there. Both he and his wife were selected to become foreign area officers and attended the Defense Language Institute, where Chris studied Dutch while his wife studied German. After graduating language school, both were assigned to the Naval Post Graduate School, where they obtained master’s degrees in national securities affairs, Western Europe, with emphasis on Germany. Their daughter Erika was born in February 1986, in the middle of their master’s programs. </p>
<p>Steve Rotkoff, an E-4 companymate, relayed an encounter with Chris and his wife who were arguing their individual theses that East and West Germany would be reunited not later than the year 2000. One wrote from the perspective of East Germany and the other from West Germany, with a joint conclusion that pulled it all together. A newly assigned department head had declared their theses “patently ridiculous” and wanted to void their submission as being insufficient for being awarded a master’s. They were awarded their degrees as their advisor and previous department head had approved their theses. They were either clairvoyant or had a much better understanding of what might be in the future for Germany—a very bold prediction either way.</p>
<p>In May 1987, after graduation, they were stationed in the embassy in Bonn, West Germany for in-country training. Later, they moved to Rheinburg, in what was then West Germany, to be part of 7th TAACOM, where Chris was assigned as the West German Territorial North Command liaison officer. During this time, he saw the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and later the reunification of Germany in 1990. One might wonder if Chris may have had a wry smile on his face thinking about his department head’s claim that their master’s theses were “patently ridiculous.” Knowing Chris, probably not...but maybe.</p>
<p>After leaving Germany, Chris went to the Command and General Staff College, followed by assignments at the Pentagon and other federal agencies, culminating with a retirement after 26-plus years of federal service and the rank of colonel.</p>
<p>After retirement Chris returned to his hometown of Merritt Island. There he reunited with two of his loves: Devine Mercy Catholic Church and singing. Joining local choirs, he moved his singing skills to the Orlando area, where he became a member of the Bach Festival Society in Winter Park, FL. Although Chris was not interred in Merritt Island upon his death, many of his fellow Bach Society members eulogized him at his service with memories of him being funny, a true gentleman, and someone who everyone wanted to be around. Chris was interred at Arlington National Cemetery on September 26, 2016, with full military honors. Over a dozen of his classmates and five of his E-4 brothers were in attendance. Chris lays in rest in section 76, grave 752.</p>
<p>Chris has two beautiful girls, his daughter Erika and granddaughter Aubrey, both of whom he loved very much. Christopher Francis Kurek left this world after a life well lived. His remarkably successful military career in the United States Army brought honor upon him and West Point. His love of music and singing brought joy to countless others. His faith in the church proved invaluable throughout his life in the military, his civilian career, and in his retirement. His faith was crucial in his lengthy battle with heart disease. When Chris’s time on earth was done it can justifiably be said, “Well Done; Be Thou at Peace.” As someone mentioned at his memorial, Heaven’s choir of angels will be enhanced by Chris’s marvelous voice. Amen.</p>
<p><em>— Erika Liberty, daughter, and Larry Hysell, classmate</em></p>
</body>
</html>