Lionel D. Alford; manager known for leadership skills

Lionel D. Alford was the quintessential corporate nomad who moved back and forth across the country with his family every few years as he advanced with Boeing.

But when the airplane manufacturer offered him a senior vice presidency in 1984, Mr. Alford refused to take the job unless he could stay in Wichita, Kan. He loved Seattle, where he'd spent many years, but the draw of other family in the Midwest was too strong.

So for the last part of his long, distinguished career, Mr. Alford commuted weekly to company headquarters in Seattle. At the time, he was responsible for Boeing Military Airplanes, Boeing Helicopters and Boeing Advanced Systems.

Mr. Alford, a bomber pilot in World War II and fighter pilot in Korea, died of cancer at the age of 75 last Tuesday (Oct. 24) in Wichita.

He was widely known for his leadership skills, determination and humility.

"Lionel Alford's leadership of key Boeing programs such as Minuteman, Saturn V, and commercial-airplane manufacturing was surpassed only by his caring about people, whom he treated with fairness and respect," said Boeing Chairman Phil Condit. "Lionel carried that leadership and compassion into the community."

Mr. Alford was born in a two-room house on a cotton farm in Winnsboro, La., the youngest of three children. His father died when he was 11. As youngsters, Mr. Alford and his siblings helped support the family by picking cotton.

An independent, hardworking man, he often used a favorite saying to encourage people, according to his son Lionel Alford Jr.: "Keep everlastingly at it."

After World War II, Mr. Alford earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Louisiana Technical University. He was recalled to active duty as a jet-fighter pilot during the Korean War in which he flew 100 combat missions. After the war, he served as a B-47 instructor at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita.

Boeing hired Mr. Alford as a test pilot in 1954.

"He often said he took a job with Boeing so he wouldn't have to move so much. But he moved more with Boeing than he probably ever would have," said his daughter-in-law, Tammy Alford.

Throughout the 1960s, he held various jobs in Boeing's ballistic-missile and space programs that sent him and his family back and forth across the country every few years. Among many assignments, he was project engineer of the Boeing Saturn V moon-rocket program and Saturn program manager at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In 1968, Mr. Alford moved to Seattle as Minuteman program manager and Ballistic Missile division manager.

Nine years later, he was named president of Boeing Military Airplane Company in Kansas and was supposed to decide whether to shut down the Wichita plant. Mr. Alford persuaded Boeing to keep it alive.

In Wichita, to the surprise of many, Mr. Alford ate in the cafeteria with employees, said his son.

"He just wanted to get to know the people and show them that leadership cared and was interested in what they were doing," said Lionel Alford Jr.

After retiring in 1989, Mr. Alford remained active in civic affairs, receiving many honors and serving on various boards of directors including the Kansas Foodbank Warehouse (which he had founded), the Minority Business Council, Wichita Center for the Arts and St. Francis Hospital.

This year, he led a successful multimillion-dollar-bond issue to refurbish Wichita's school buildings.

Mr. Alford is survived by his wife, Jane. His first wife, Julia, died in 1992. Also surviving is son Scott; a sister, Juanita Goodvin; five grandchildren; and one foster grandchild.

Marsha King's phone message number is 206-464-2232. Her e-mail address is mking@seattletimes.com.