Deione Hyatt Kugler

Deione Hyatt Kugler, the world got a little darker and heaven a little brighter on January 16th when Deione passed from this life after a two year fight with pancreatic cancer. She was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on August 21, 1951 to Alva Odell and Almarieda Hyatt. She attended Pine Bluff High School and then went on to Mississippi State College for Women, graduating in 1973 with a degree in Speech Pathology and Deaf Education. Deione was the Deaf Educator of the Year in 1973 and was offered a position at the Mississippi School for the Deaf which she turned down to marry 2nd Lt John Kugler, and together they spent 26 years living the Air Force lifestyle, raising two beautiful daughters, Jennifer Kathrine Smith and Alison Deione Taylor while being stationed on both coasts of the U.S. several times as well as Germany and Japan. Deione ensured that wherever they were stationed that it felt like home within a month of their arrival. She also managed to use her degree as a substitute teacher, still allowing her to devote her attention to what she considered her most important job of being a mom. In 1997 at the end of Alison's senior year in high school Deione took a job as a flight attendant, first with Western Pacific Airlines and then with Frontier Airlines. Because of her caring personality she was a natural at being a flight attendant and ensuring the comfort and safety of her passengers. Throughout her life Deione touched many lives with her caring and kindness, always doing what needed to be done and never waiting to be asked. Her passing has brought tears to many, including some of the toughest fighter pilots in the Air Force. She is survived by her mother Almarieda Hyatt, her sister, Gail (Bill) Saffold, her brother, T. Mark (Chris) Hyatt, her husband, John Kugler, her daughters, Jennifer (Lance) Smith and Alison (Will)Taylor, and five grandchildren, John, Liam, Charles, Olivia and Maren. A service will be held at Watson Chapel Baptist Church in Pine Bluff on January 21st at 2 p.m. Another service will be held at Sunrise Church in Colorado Springs at a date to be determined. Those who so desire may make memorial donations in memory of Deione to the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, P.O. Box 1848, Longmont, Colo., or www.npcf.us.