John Massey

John Massey

John Massey, 80, of Keswick, died Sunday, December 26, 2010, of Leukemia, at Hospice House of Hospice of the Piedmont.

He was born August 8, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, the middle son of Walter and Martha Jane Stacy Massey.

He was preceded in death by his parents and older brother, Walter Massey Jr.

He is survived by his wife, Kyle K. Massey and her children, Blair C. Weih and Anne C. Weih; younger brother, Paul Massey of Racine, Wisconsin; step-daughters, LuAnne Burd of Deming, of New Mexico, and Marla Ross of Grand Junction, Colorado.

John was a native of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. After a stint with the Air Force in Japan and Korea, he attended the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where he graduated as an Electrical Engineer in 1956.

John was a Registered Professional Engineer. While working at the Elgin Watch Company's Research and Development Center, he developed the preliminary design model of the central timing package for the Apollo spacecraft. He designed and managed the production of a line of reliability testing equipment. As a senior Electrical Engineer in the Weapons Improvement Laboratory, he worked with old United States Navy equipment designs to improve them and in some cases to develop new hardware for the Navy. As the equipment design manager for the Basic Point Defense Missile System at the Naval Ship Weapon System Engineering Station, he and his team developed improvements for the SPARROW Missile. John received special commendation from the Chief of Naval Operations for his work on the SHRIKE Missile System. He worked as AEGIS Test and Evaluation Manager in the AEGIS Shipbuilding Project Office.

After leaving the government, John founded Massey Engineering in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, where he designed and produced thermometers and industrial incubators. Later he started Electronic Innovators in Arlington, a small consulting company working primarily with the United States Navy. When Electronic Innovators was sold, John did consulting in the Navy's Ballistic Missile Program for General Dynamics IT in Crystal City.

John retired in 2007, before moving to Keswick. His retirement goal was to help kids with math and he spent many hours tutoring and working as a substitute teacher in Charlottesville. He approached this with his usual enthusiasm and determination, most recently working to program a TI-84 calculator with math problems for second graders with dreams of making learning fun.

John always said that he was happiest "working at the bench". He said that his obituary should simply say that he was a good engineer and a great step-father. His favorite quote was "I am still learning". -Michelangelo

John will be cremated. A celebratory memorial service will be held in the early spring.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of the Piedmont, 675 Peter Jefferson Parkway, Charlottesville, VA 22911.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.