Max Leon Salathiel

Max L. Salathiel was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. He was born on June 28, 1955, in Oklahoma City, OK to Max Sr. and Joan Salathiel. He was a man who ambitiously educated himself in depth about many useful subjects. A man to where if you were interested in having a discussion about any given topic, you’d be guaranteed to receive some pretty effective insight while getting to know his unique personality even more. He graduated from Del City High school and went on to complete his aviation certification, bachelor’s and master’s degree at Southern Nazarene University. He was very enthusiastic when it came to continuous education. He authored several books, had thousands of flying hours, drove semi-trucks, and served as a police officer and security officer. Max knew a lot about medicine, physics, astronomy, motorcycles, animals, and music as a great guitarist and well-rounded knowledge of other instruments. Ultimately, he spent more than 25 years in the behavioral medicine department at St. Anthony’s hospital where he then went on to retire.

In Max’s earlier years, he grew up near Tinker Air Force Base. He would spend a lot of time watching aircraft take off and land. He took the time to learn every detail about each aircraft that had available information to him: through the use of books and experience, as the internet wasn’t around a majority of his life. He watched them closely as if he knew that one day, he would be flying an aircraft of his own. He had such a passion for flying, that he even took his wife on their first date on an aircraft that he was piloting around the Oklahoma skies. His eyes were always looking towards the skies. He also demonstrated this whenever he would study the stars through his telescope and was so excited in sharing that experience with his family.

Max continued to be intrigued by many things throughout his life. One big takeaway that we may remember him for is his kind heart, his interesting unique personality, and above all else, his importance for family.

Fly high Max, we will all miss you.

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