Wilson Engel Jr.

ENGEL JR. WILSON FARNSWORTH ENGEL JR. CAPT. USN (Ret.) Of Annandale, VA passed away on November 1, 2009. Born in Minneapolis, MN in 1922 to Wilson Farnsworth Engel Sr., and Margaret Wells Engel as one of seven children. He married Sarah Lawrence Fairman in 1946. Capt. Engel''s distinguished thirty-five year Navy career began in 1940 with two years of NROTC at the University of Minnesota where he became a member of Zeta Psi fraternity, followed by three years at the US Naval Academy where he earned the rank of "Four Striper." He was part of the Class of 1946 which was in 1945 due to WWII. After graduation, he was sent to the Pacific Theater and assigned to USS Farernholt (DD491) where he witnessed the relentless Japanese Kamikaze attacks in the last months of the war. Following the end of hostilities, he took part in the Bikini Atomic Experiments, a series of thermonuclear bomb tests conducted in the Bikini Atoll of the Bikini Islands. After attaining the Professional Degree in Engineering at MIT in 1951, he was stationed alternately at San Diego Naval Shipyard and Norfolk Naval Shipyard as Superintendent of Ships among other Engineering Duty Officer (EDO) assignments. He then served at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Washington, DC where he was Director of Shipbuilding (1968-1969) and Comptroller (1969-1971). He then moved over to the Navy Staff, OPNAV (OP-92), where he worked until retiring from the Navy in 1975. Capt. Engel took a position with William J. Reckmeyer''s government contracting company Inter-National Research Institute (INRI). He retired from INRI as Executive Vice President, Contracts, in 1996 having always commanded the respect and friendship of those for whom he worked and those who worked for him. Capt. Engel is survived by his wife of sixty-three years Sarah Fairman Engel of Annandale, VA; daughter, Sarah Engel Nold of Charleston, SC; sons, Wilson F. Engel, III of Nashua, NH, Frank P. Engel of Orlando, FL, and David Engel of San Diego, CA; brother, Richard L. Engel of San Diego, CA; sisters, Barbara Sletton of Los Angeles, CA and Margaret Laroe of Durham, NC; fifteen grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Services will be private.