Delos Reckards Goddard

Delos was born and raised on a farm in eastern Kansas. He had a varied and interesting career. He joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 during World War II and served with the Navy Seabees on Okinawa.

After the war he studied diesel engines at Oklahoma State University Technical School at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, where he met and married his love, his wife, Catherine. They recently celebrated their 66th anniversary. From there he worked as Chief Mechanic at Bureau of Mines Helium Production Plants at Amarillo, Texas; Shiprock, New Mexico; and Otis, Kansas.

In 1957 Delos took his family to Austin, Texas where he received his Electrical Engineering Degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Catherine supported the family by working at the Army Reserve Center in Austin. Next it was to The Bureau of Reclamation in Denver where he developed control and telemetry circuits for electrical generating equipment being installed at the large dams the Bureau was building in the 1960s. Most notable of these was the Lake Powell Dam in Arizona.

In 1968 he transferred to the Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM) in Colorado Springs which operated the anti-aircraft missile sites that then surrounded all the larger U.S. cities. Delos retired at age 48 in 1975 when ARADCOM closed down, and for the next 25 years he and Catherine traveled in all 50 U.S. states and spent winters at RV resorts in Arizona and other southern states. They were charter members of the Kissing Camels Chapter of the Good Sam RV Club.

He was preceded in death by his daughter, Linda Avram, and his parents: Raymond and Louise Goddard.

He is survived by his wife, Catherine, of Colorado Springs; his son, Edwin Goddard, of Golden, Colorado; his daughter, Norma (Bob) Levi, of Colorado Springs; his sister, Madge Casselman, of Arlington, Texas; 6 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

He put up a gallant and positive fight for 4 years against myelodysplastic syndrome.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, July 25, 2014 at Shrine of Remembrance "America the Beautiful" Chapel, with a viewing 1 hour prior to the service. Entombment will be at the Shrine of Remembrance Mausoleum.

In lieu of flowers, Delos asked that donations be sent to the MDS Foundation, Inc. at www.mds-foundation.org.

Online Condolences:

ShrineOfRemembrance.com