GLENBURN

Brig. Gen. Stephen M. Atkinson was happy to serve his country all those 36 years in the Maine Air National Guard – the last two as commander.

Atkinson, a Bath native and 1971 Morse High School graduate, retired as Air National Guard commander during a March 4 ceremony at the Augusta State Armory.

“Knowing that you’ve contributed makes you feel pretty good,” Atkinson said Wednesday from his Glenburn home. “It was a very, very satisfying career. I met a lot of extraordinary people along the way.”

But Atkinson, who logged more than 5,400 flight hours during his military career, won’t be lacking for things to do. Atkinson and his wife, Candace, have a  spacious yard, where he can work with his little saw mill, and do yard work on his tractor. He also looks forward to devoting a little more time to his beloved Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at the University of Maine, where he has been an active alumni.

And Atkinson remains in touch with family and friends in Bath.

His mother, Helen, lives at The Highlands in Topsham.

“My heart always kind of resides there,” Atkinson said.

Following high school graduation, Atkinson worked for Miller Construction of Bath, and had a hand in remodeling the old Elliot House on Front Street, which is now J.R. Maxwell’s. He earned a microbiology degree at Umaine.

All along, the son of Army engineer Ed Atkinson – who served on the City Council – and nephew of Louis Ochmanski, a World War II B-24 crew chief – had yearned to fly. At 24, Atkinson enrolled in flight programs, and never looked back. He graduated from flight school in 1978, a year after joining the Air Guard.

Two years later, Atkinson married the former Candace Martin, whose father, Roy, also was a brigadier general with the Air Guard. The couple purchased a home in Old Town.

They purchased land from their Glenburn home 27 years ago.

Atkinson went full-time with the Guard in 1989. He commanded the 101st Air Refueling Wing in Bangor from 2005-09, then was promoted to brigadier general.

He has earned the Meritorius Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Aerial Achievement Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Achievement Medal and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.

During the change-of-command ceremony,  Brig. Gen. Gerard Bolduc, the new commander, and Brig. Gen. James D. Campbell, state adjutant general, were featured speakers.

The Atkinsons are the parents of five children.