George MIRABAL

1923 - 2020

July 4, 1922-April 12, 2020 On Sunday, April 12, 2020. George Mirabal left this earth to join others who left before him and start the next chapter of his life. Our dad was born on July 4, 1922, so he was just short of 98 years old. He was born to a single mother in New York City and never had a father figure. His early years in New York overlapped with the Great Depression; he essentially grew up on the streets with little direction. Being a quick learner, he moved well through school and managed to mostly stay out of trouble. One of his great admonishments to me al- ways was "Keep your nose clean." He understood the value of education and had a tremendous sense of fair play and treating everyone equally. Pop was married six times to five different women (Dorothy, Elsie, Lorraine, Dot and Mary), marrying our mom, Elsie, twice. Since four of them pre-deceased him, we're guessing that they met him when he left Earth and we are hoping that it was a happy reunion for all.
His children, daughters Nancy, Bonnie and April, and sons Bob and Mike will definitely miss him. There are many grandchildren and of course great-grandchildren.
During World War II, he built Corsair aircraft in Connecticut, where he met and married his first two wives. Moving to Los Angeles in 1955, he had a series of aircraft jobs building commercial airliners. Moving to the Antelope Valley in the early 1960s, he started building, modifying and maintaining edgy military aircraft. The X 15, the XB 70, the U2, the SR 71, and the F117 (Stealth fighter). He worked out of Palmdale Plant 42 and the Lockheed Skunk Works. At Area 51, he worked on things that he would never talk about. For many years he enjoyed square dancing that was very popular in the Valley. Later on he spent many seasons bowling in a league and then there was always his favorite, Poker. He actively went out to play poker with some of his longtime buddies every Friday night until this past January. Now he's gone to the big game in the sky looking to be dealt in.
Thanks, Pop, for all you did and for all you were. You'll not be forgotten. As in life, wherever you were you had a good time and you enjoyed the people around you and I'm sure that will continue. George wished to be cremated and his family will have a private remembrance at a later time.