Wallace J. "Wally" Tubell
West Melbourne
With his family by his side, Wally passed away on May 5, 2016 after a long struggle with heart and kidney disease. He was born on Sept. 7, 1929 in Birmingham Alabama at his grandmother's home to Harry and Mamie Tubell. Wally was raised in Jacksonville, FL. He was a good student and athlete, President of the Senior Fellows Club and Captain of the football team at Robert E. Lee High School.
The Depression years were tough for his family and after he graduated from high school in 1947, he attended Stetson University but left early to help support his family due to his father's ill health. Later in life he would continue his studies at Nova University and Florida Institute of Technology. He began his career at AT&T as an electronic technician and served in the US Army during the
Korean War in the Signal Corps.
In the mid 1950's Wally was hired by RCA's Missile Test Project at Cape Canaveral. He was a technician, leader and Instrumentation Manager (IM) on the down range islands, "B Shift" manager for the Cape's night launches, then Ship's IM during the Gemini and Apollo programs. He was an original space pioneer supporting the earliest days of America's space program.
In 1959 he met his wife, Janice Kolbe, who also worked in the Space Industry for Pan American. They married in 1960 and raised three children.
A downturn in the Space missions moved Wally up north with RCA and Technicon Instruments Corporation for seven years. In 1975 he rejoined RCA at AUTEC (Atlantic Undersea Testing and Evaluation Center) in the Bahamas (Andros Island) for four years. In 1979 the family returned to Florida following his first heart attack, and Wally continued working as a consultant/writer on defense contract proposals for GE and other companies.
Wally's work ethic was key to his personality. He was a devoted family man, and a good and loyal friend to his many work colleagues over the years. He will be greatly missed.
Wally was predeceased by his parents and older brother George. His survivors are Janice, his wife of 55 years, his son Wally Tubell Jr (and his wife Tami), daughter Alyce Howard (and husband Chris) and youngest daughter Eleanor three grandchildren Kolbe and Parker Howard and Alexandra Tubell.
Wally's family loved him, respected him and always thought he was the "greatest"!! We mourn his loss. His last words to us all were his famous saying and motto, "Onward and Upward!"
There will be a memorial gathering at Ammen Family Cremation and Funeral Care (724-2222), at the corner of NASA Blvd and Hickory Street, Melbourne,from 4pm to 6pm on Thursday, May 12th.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation to in Wally's name or to the Humane Society.
Share memories and sign the family guestbook at
www.afcfcare.com.
