By Jared Keller; Task & Purpose:
Retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Robert Corrigan and his wife Shani were shot and killed when former airman Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire Nov. 5 at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. They were just two of the 26 parishioners murdered and 20 others wounded by Kelley before he died of a gunshot in a high-speed chase with two bystanders. But Corrigan, 51, wasn’t just another innocent victim caught in the deadliest mass shooting in state history; he was everything that Kelly was not.
The Corrigans were sweethearts at Harrison High School in Michigan, where Robert was a track star, according to the Clare County, Michigan, director of veterans’ services. Robert joined the Air Force in 1985, the couple married, and they relocated to Texas. Over three decades of service, Chief Master Sgt. Corrigan rose to become superintendent of 55th Medical Group at Offutt Air Force Base in 2012 — part of the service’s essential 55th Wing, the largest in the Air Combat Command. Corrigan retired in 2015, relocating to San Antonio with Shani; the couple is survived by two sons, both on active-duty.
To read more about the life of CMSgt Corrigan, visit Task & Purpose.
