A Great Friend, George Eaton

We lost a great friend, mentor and a great person on the Fourth of July, 2006. George Eaton, Cdr. (USN-ret) of Udall, KS, formerly of Oklahoma City, OK and Waldorf, MD, lost his long and courageous battle with cancer on July 4, 2006. George was born in Newburgh, NY in 1941. He was a member of Grace Methodist Church in Newburgh. He graduated from Newburgh Free Academy. While attending school, George earned his Boy Scout Eagle designation. After high school graduation, he received a commission to attend The Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD and graduated in 1965. He became a career military officer as a pilot and later achieved a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. George spent many years working in NAVAIR in Washington DC as Program Manager for joint service, Navy-Air Force, Missle programs. Later he became the Department Head of the Naval Aviation Logistics Center, Patuxent Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, MD. After his retirement from the United States Navy, he became employed by The Boeing Company as the Flight Test Manager on the A-6 ReWing Flight Test Program, Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, MD. After A-6 program completion, he became E-6 TACAMO Program Manager with Main Operating Base located at Tinker Air Force Base, OK. He retired from the Boeing Company on May 1, 2002. George is survived by his wife, Donna; Funeral service were held at 10 a.m. Saturday, both at Smith Mortuary, 1415 N. Rock Rd., Derby, KS. Graveside service 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Lincoln Township Cemetery, Lebo, KS.

George was a great person and a great boss. I worked for George on two differnet programs, A-6 rewing and the E-6 for 16 years.

Family Reunion

Didn't make it to the family reunion. Left San Antonio on June 29 and was to change planes in Houston, TX. Plane was late leaving San Antonio so I missed my connection in Houston and being the Holiday weekend there was very few flight going into Omaha. Didn't get a flight out of Houston until 2:30 on the afternoon on June 30 getting into Omaha at 5:00 pm. Danae and I were too tired to drive 6 hrs to western Kansas. Dan and Judy did come to our house on July 2 and we had a wonderful 4 of July. The fireworks is very unusual and it reminds you of a war zone. We stayed on the back deck and fireworks were going off all around us.