Military service a fixture in the Colvin family

Lt. Cmdr. Marni Colvin chose to follow a family tradition of military service when she joined the Navy, enrolled in medical school and fulfilled her dream of becoming a surgeon.

On Sunday, seven months after completing her surgical residency at the University of Arizona Medical School in Tucson, Colvin, a Baker High School graduate, shipped out for the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, operated by the U.S. Army and Department of Defense in Germany.

There Colvin will treat soldiers who were wounded in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Colvin is the daughter of retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Cliff Colvin, 82, and his wife, Connie, of Baker City.

Marni Colvin had worked as a nurse in private practice for 12 years when she went to San Diego to see a hospital ship.

She was thinking of enlisting as a nurse with the rank of ensign, but she really wanted to be a physician.

She decided to fulfill both dreams by joining the Navy.

Part of her medical residency was completed at Georgetown University, where Connie had earned her bachelor’s degree in the 1950s.

Andrew served one tour of duty in Iraq and Tim did two tours there.

“Andrew felt a calling to be a chaplain,” Connie Colvin said. “He said, ‘those good men need so much inspiration.’ In Iraq he ministered to 2,000 men.”

Having returning from Iraq, Andrew is stationed in Kitsap, Wash.

Tim Colvin is stationed in Iwakuni, Japan.

“I never really pushed them to join, but they did,” said Cliff Colvin.

Connie said Marni gained experience in reconstructive burn surgery during a phase of  her medical residency served in New York.

“She has a background in reconstruction and plastic surgery,” Connie said. “Marni completed her residency in Arizona last June, and she has been waiting all this time to get her military orders, so hasn’t really been practicing until this week.”

Cliff and Connie are also proud of their other daughter, Kathy Robbins, who is a nursing supervisor at the Baker Clinic in Baker City.

Military service is a tradition on both sides of the Colvin family.

Connie served as a Navy nurse in the 1950s, prior to marrying Cliff in 1967.

He was a top fighter jet pilot in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

“He’s a real top gun,” Connie said, which drew a chuckle and a smile from Cliff, who actually was a Top Gun.

His citation is framed and hangs on a wall of honor in the Colvin home.

When asked what it took to earn that citation while he was training at Cherry Point, N.C., Cliff said, “Well, you had to hit what you were aiming at.”

Cliff Colvin’s military career spanned more than 30 years.

“I joined right out of high school in 1946,” Cliff said. “It seemed like the right thing to do. I was pretty happy to be a Marine. I think I did a pretty good job with the Marines as a fighter pilot.”

Connie is eager to fill in the details her husband leaves out.

“He accomplished so many things in his life, I want everybody to know,” Connie said.

In 1946, Cliff was awarded a fleet appointment to attend the U.S. Naval Academy after tests showed “he had the highest IQ of anybody in the Navy at that time,” Connie said. He graduated in 1950.

He went on to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering and received specialized training at Granfield Institute of Technology in England.

He later put those skills to good use, helping to design the Stinger surface-to-air missile as director of research and missile development at Point Mugu in California.

The Colvin Family wall of honor — which actually covers all four walls in one room — includes a commendation Cliff received for helping Ambassador Philip Goldberg negotiate a treaty in the 1960s with his Russian counterpart, governing the use of small arms in outer space.

During his military career Cliff also served as director of education for the Marines.

Connie said the couple’s children grew up hearing stories about their father’s military service, and about the Novak and Papinchalk men on her side of the family who served with distinction all the way back to the 19th century in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Connie’s uncle, Andy Novak, spoke several languages and served with the Office of Strategic Services (a forerunner of the CIA) during World War II, going behind enemy lines to hang out in the bars and other places, listening to enemy soldiers and others talk about troop movements and other details prior to an American attack.

Another family military story involves Connie’s uncle, Ed Novak, who was aboard the ship Leyte Gulf when it was sunk in the Pacific during World War II.

He had to swim eight miles to survive.

Connie’s brother, also named Ed,  served in the Marine Corps and later worked for the Army, where he helped develop night vision goggles.

Her nephew, Richard Novak, joined the FBI when he got out of the Marine Corps; another nephew, Paul Nowaczek, worked for the CIA; and another nephew, Justin Collins, works for the National Security Agency.

 When Connie talks about Cliff’s military career, the thing she says she is most proud of is that he risked his career, and possible chance for making general, when he wrote a position paper to Congress recommending women be allowed to receive officer training at military academies, and to lead troops into battle.

“The generals at the time didn’t like that paper, but he felt it was the right thing,” Connie said. “Congress wound up approving it, and women have the right to serve as commanding officers today because of the paper he wrote.”

“Dad — that’s what I call him — is an unsung hero as far as that is concerned,” Connie said.