Beverly Ann Akin passed away peacefully in Calera, Okla., on January 1, 2025. She was born in Highland Park, Mich., on April 4, 1938, to Dr. John and Kathyleen Thompson.
From an early age she was very independent and absolutely loved animals, especially horses. As a teenager she had a job in Fort Worth on a small horse ranch taking care of horses and working for the owner. This allowed her to begin to learn how to train and show horses. Just out of high school, she became Secretary of the Cutting Horse Association and worked for the Cutting Hoss Chatter magazine. Her passion grew into an incredible career in the horse industry. She quickly became well known after winning many State Fairs and national AQHA shows. Her passion for horses continued throughout her life.
This career grew into a huge business complete with training, breeding and showing horses from all over the US. During these years, she also became an avid photographer, again, especially horses. She supplied photos of numerous horses to many publications. In 1963 her son Kelly Wayne came along and began another adventure. She actually cleaned horse stalls the day he was born before going to the hospital! In the early 70’s, her interest turned to aviation. Living next to the airport in Durant was a perfect combination for her. She began to take flight lessons and quickly got her private license and eventually her ATP (Airline Transport) rating. She became an instructor for SOSU and trained many how to fly.
One of her exciting milestones was achieved when the DFW World Airport opened in the mid 70’s, she was noted as the first female pilot to land there and later the first female Captain. She joined a group for women pilots called The 99’s Wildflowers. While in this group she made many lifelong friends in the aviation world. She had an absolute blast. She was able to create her own Air Taxi Service called Bev’s Air Service. This took her all over the country for many fun adventures. She became a Captain complete with stripes while flying for JerDon Air out of Ardmore, Okla., a commuter air service from Ardmore to DFW. During these years, she worked for the Law Firms of Alan McPheron, David Kelley and Farrel Hatch.
In 1990, she was hired by the Choctaw Nation to fly their aircraft. She was certainly in her element. She was the Chief Pilot for them until shortly after 9/11. While flying for them she experienced an engine failure in their Cessna 421 and was forced to land in a field just north of Denton Texas while on a flight to have the plane’s radios worked on. She performed perfectly according to the FAA. While working for the Choctaw Nation she began to write grants through the HUD program to build special projects for the Choctaw Nation including Fire Departments, Travel Plazas, Road Construction along with many other amazing projects. She made quite a name for herself with HUD always earning the highest application scores. During these years she was also very active on the SODA Board and Magnolia Festival. She retired from the Choctaw Nation in 2013. Beverly was fearless, bold, independent and demanded perfection in everything. This included her love for bright flowers around her home and an immaculate lawn. In her senior years she always having some dachshunds around to keep her company. She loved going RVing, golfing and taking cruises with close friends.
Beverly is survived by her son, Kelly Savage and wife Peggy of Durant, Okla.; two grandchildren, Kyle Savage and wife Kristen of Omaha NE and Kayla Savage of Durant and two great-grandchildren Jonah and Lycan.
Beverly is preceded in death by her parents and brother Bob Thompson.
A memorial service will be held at Holmes-Coffey-Murray Funeral Home at 2 p.m. on February 7, 2025, in Durant, Okla.
Services are under the direction of Holmes-Coffey-Murray Funeral Home, 121 N. Fifth Ave. in Durant.
www.holmescoffeymurray.com