Stephen Shiaoling Ho

Stephen Shiaoling Ho passed away on January 23, 2025, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He was 86 years old.

Steve was born in Dinling, Hunan, China, on September 8, 1938, to Lien Yu Ho and Yin Hwa Ho, nee Cheng. He was born at the height of the Japanese invasion of China and at only a few months old, his family moved westward to Chongqing and they lived in a small refugee settlement outside the city where he spent his early years.

In 1948, when he was nine years old, the family moved to Washington, DC to join his father who was employed by the recently-formed Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and narrowly escaping the Communist Revolution in China that would have kept the family from leaving the country.  His education in the U.S. began at Stoddert Elementary School in Washington D.C., where without speaking a word of English, he was initially put into a first grade class with six-year-olds. However, he finished elementary school in two-and-a-half years, and went on to graduate from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1957.  

Steve accepted a position at the United States Air Force Academy and became the first Chinese-American graduate, Class of 1961. He was required to be a U.S. citizen in order to apply for the Air Force Academy, and he recounted that his U.S. citizenship swearing-in ceremony was scheduled for the same day as the admissions test. Fortunately, they allowed him to take the exam late. He scored well, and the rest is history. In his second brush with history, Steve and an Air Force colleague escorted the first pair of pandas from China to Washington D.C. in 1972.

Steve had domestic assignments at McChord AFB in Washington, Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio and Norton AFB in California. During the Vietnam War, he flew transport planes and spent a year at Korat Royal Thai AFB in Thailand, where he helped with electronic surveillance of ground traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. His studies in aeronautical and mechanical engineering helped him develop airplane systems for flight control, balance and weight, cargo handling and loading nuclear equipment. He also worked with the Air Force’s intercontinental ballistic missile program before retiring honorably in 1982, as a Lieutenant Colonel, after more than 20 years of service.  Among his many military commendations, Steve received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Vietnam  Service Medal.  

Steve said his years at the U.S. Air Force Academy were “the most challenging, constructive, and rewarding years” of his life. In an Academy reunion booklet in 2006, he summed it up: “It has been an honor and privilege to be a party to the adventure, and to have a lifetime of true friendship with classmates. What we experienced and shared tested the whole person and this cannot be replicated in any other environment.”

Upon retirement from the Air Force in 1982, Steve worked in the aerospace industry in the private sector for the next 10 years.

An avid outdoorsman, Steve always loved to fish, from exploring flooded rice paddies in China with his brother to catching crayfish for bait in Washington, DC’s Rock Creek with his children. He also enjoyed playing competitive golf — or, as he described it, developing “ball-striking skills with the magical crooked stick on a stationary white ball.”

Steve is survived by his youngest sister Margaret Liang. Two other siblings preceded him in death: older brother Henry in 1987 and younger sister Barbara in 2023.

Other survivors include:

Former spouse Margaret and their children: Philip and wife Agnes, grandchildren Brian and Samantha; Stephanie and husband David, granddaughter Maggie; and Melissa and husband Scott, grandchildren Calvin and Cora.

Sister-in-law Linda, nephew Jonathan and wife Liz, grandnephew Ryan, niece Colleen, grandnephew Craig; and nephew Michael and wife Trang, grandchildren Nicholas and Lauren.

Partner Lynn and her children: Jennifer and husband Gary, grandson Jacob; Kathy and husband Nelson, grandchildren Ken and Kirsten; Chris and wife Tammy, grandsons Thomas and William; and Howard and wife Patty, grandchildren Samantha, Julie and Daniel.

Two memorial events are planned. One will be at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The other will be at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC. Details to follow.

Mr. Ho is entrusted to Kelvin F. Lewis, the funeral director, and the Lewis Crematory & Funeral Home staff of Myrtle Beach, SC. (843) 294-0011

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