Brig. Gen. Jan "Denny" Eakle
Spring 2021 - For most of her life, Brig. Gen. Jan "Denny" Eakle has been on the move. "My father was in the Navy, and we moved so often that I attended 13 schools in 12 years," she said.
Over the course of her own career in the military - during which she was made a brigadier general in 2002, becoming one of only 34 female generals in the Air Force's history at the time - Eakle continued to be well traveled. Her various positions took her back and forth from the Air Force's headquarters in Washington, DC, to bases around the country.
Now retired and living in Pennsylvania, she is enjoying being in one place for an extended period of time. In addition, she has decided to make a planned gift that will have a lasting impact on a place close to her heart - Baylor University.
"As an Air Force commander, I saw how important chaplains were for the deployed troops, particularly in wartime, and the families left at home. Establishing a scholarship at Truett for future military chaplains was the best way I could think of to honor God, Baylor and the military," she said regarding her motivation to create The Brigadier General Jan D. Eakle Endowed Scholarship Fund in Truett Seminary.
A LIFE OF SERVICE
The roots of Eakle's military career stretch back to Baylor, where she enlisted as a cadet in the Air Force ROTC program in 1971. She was commissioned in 1975 and entered active duty in 1976. After earning degrees in mathematics from Baylor in those same years, she added a PhD in operations research from the University of Texas in 1982.
"Being a student at Baylor was an academic blessing and a true faith foundation," Eakle said. "My first assignment in the Air Force was a demonstration project to prove that lieutenants were capable of performing at a headquarters. I was selected because the man leading it was a Baylor alum. Throughout my career I relied on both my education and the moral compass I received at Baylor."
After serving as vice commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, Eakle spent her final years in the military as deputy director of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), operated by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense in Arlington, Virginia. The DFAS is the world's largest finance and accounting operation, with annual responsibilities, at the time of Eakle's service, of paying six million people, processing more than 12 million contractor invoices, disbursing $416 billion a year and managing $194 billion in military trust funds.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Eakle's endowed scholarship fund will provide assistance to students attending Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, with preference given those pursuing a career as a military chaplain.
She described the investment account that she has made plans to leave to Baylor as "the Jesus money" because she always intended to leave it to the Kingdom. In addition, she is already making current gifts to Baylor to enhance the scholarship fund.
"New pastors, including chaplains, should not have to start out their ministry burdened by student debt," she said. "I'm hoping this scholarship will steer some seminarians to consider serving in the military. There is a critical shortage of chaplains, and these people play critical roles."