Re: Claudia "Sue" Powers, Wife of Gary Powers, Passes

Date: June 24, 2004

"Claudia 'Sue' Powers, 68, widow of downed U-2 pilot

From wire reports

Las Vegas- Claudia "Sue" Powers, widow of downed U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers and an advocate of preserving Cold War history, died June 17 of respiratory failure. She was 68.

She was a CIA psychometrist who tested agents returning from abroad when she met Powers in 1962, after his release from a Soviet prison. Powers' U-2 was shot down May 1, 1960, as he flew over Soviet airspace. After parachuting from the plane, he was captured and convicted of espionage. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was freed Feb. 10, 1962, in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

The couple married, each for the second time, in 1963 and moved to Los Angeles, where Francis Gary Powers spent eight years as a Lockheed test pilot working on the U-2. In the 1970s, he flew fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters for radio and television stations, covering traffic and news events such as wildfires.

He died Aug. 1, 1977, when his news helicopter crashed in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles.

With their son, Francis Gary Powers Jr., his widow worked to obtain posthumous medals - the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross and the Department of Defense Prisoner of War Medal - for her husband.

She also helped her son establish the Cold War Museum, a traveling exhibit that honors Powers, and was an honorary chairwoman of the Silent Heroes of the Cold War National Memorial Committee. A resident of Las Vegas since 1994, she was a longtime volunteer at its Atomic Testing Museum.

In addition to her son, Powers is survived by a daughter from her previous marriage, Dee Rogers, and two grandchildren.

© 2004 The Plain Dealer"