Norman John Filman

FILMAN-Norman John Filman, was born to Norman Clifford and Margaret (Duff) Filman November 23, 1920 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His mother took him to China as an infant to live with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Duff, who had gone to China in the early 1890s as missionaries for the Plymouth Brethren Church of Eastern Canada. After his grandfather contracted malaria, th ey moved to a mountainous region called Kuling, 400 miles up the Yangtse River from Shanghai, China. Norm had a very happy childhood there and became a follower of Jesus Christ and served Him faithfully throughout his life. He was strongly influenced by the godly example of his grandfather. He attended several schools, completing high school in Shanghai. After working a few months he sailed for Vancouver, B.C. where he attended the University of British Columbia, graduating as an electrical engineer in 1944 . He worked in Canada as a junior engineer in radio receiver design until 1949. During that time he also acquired a masters degree in communication engineering from McGill University in Montreal, graduating in 1946. In 1949 he moved to the Los Angeles, CA where he resided until his death. He worked for 31 years for Hughes Aircraft, first in their guided missile division, and later in the space and communication division, from which he retired in 1986. His principle professional accomplishment was being a pa rt of the team that developed SYNCOM, the experimental satellite that demonstrated that a communication satellite could be placed in synchronous orbit with the earth. Today, TV, telephone and weather satellites use the same concepts for communication over long distances. After retirement Norm did a considerable amount of travel, including trips to Macao and China, where he enjoyed reunions with students at two American schools from his China days, and a meeting with a group known as Old China Hands, who were mostly from Shanghai. He also went on short term mission trips to Grenada and the Bahamas sponsored by Every Home for Christ. For several years Norm spent four days a week as a volunteer in the learning center at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles. There he compassionately assisted disadvantaged men in recovery programs, in obtaining their GED certificates. He stayed in good physical shape by square dancing and playing golf and tennis. Norm left us to go to Heaven February 1, 2010. He was preceded in death by his parents, older sister, Grace, older brother, James, and Sally, his wife of 17 years. He is survived by his half-sister, Elizabeth (Betty) Wallace, of Peterborough, Ontario; three step-daughters, Terry Guthrie, Joyce Forbes and Brooke Britigan, and seven grandchildren, Hank, Molly, Shelley, Carrie, Jimmie, Jesse and Christian and five great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Union Rescue Mission, 545 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 900 53, designated for the Mens Christian Life Program Book Fund.