Ernest R. Scheyhing

1938 - 2022

Jan. 6, 1938 - March 11, 2022 Ernest Richard Scheyhing (Ernie) was born on Sherlock Holmes' birthday in Springfield, Massachusetts to Eugenie (Schnell) Scheyhing and Ernst Heinrich Scheyhing. He died on March 11 from kidney failure. Ernie had one sister, Ruth, eight years older than he. Despite their age gap, they were very close, both sharing a love for readingespecially mysteries. Ernie graduated from Springfield's Technical High School at the age of 16 and entered Yale on a full scholarship. He received his undergraduate, Master's and Doctorate degrees in engineering from Yale. While a graduate student, Ernie married his first wife, Sue Crowder. They moved to California where Ernie joined The Aerospace Corporation in 1965 as a structural engineer, devoting much of his career to the development of space launch vehicles. With Sue, Ernie had two children, a son Curt (an engineer) and a daughter Susan (a teacher and librarian). They were married for 12 years and remained steadfast partners in parenting. Ten years after Sue and Ernie were divorced, he met Terry Ferguson at an Aerospace Christmas party. Sounds corny, but it was love at first sight, and eight months later, they were married. Six years after that, Ernie and Terry welcomed a child now Ryan (a clinical researcher/data manager). Ernie and Terry would have celebrated 40 years of marriage this August. Ernie reluctantly retired at the age of 75, just shy of his 50 year anniversary at Aerospace Corporation. He was plagued with serious health issues for many years but maintained his sense of humor, his love of nature, travel, and classical music, his passion for a good whodunnit, and his (slight) obsession with the nature of coincidences. Ernie was a devoted and loving husband, father, and grandfather (Opa). Ernie is survived by his wife, Terry, his sons Curt (Kelly) and Ryan (Veronica), and his daughter Susan Gordon (Wayne). He is also survived by four grandchildren, Matthew and Emily Gordon, and Elizabeth and Kimberly Scheyhing; two sisters-in-law (Patti Preston and Janet Ferguson); cousins Helga Buckley and Inge Fleischer; nieces Diane Christensen and Debbie Christensen; nephews Don Jr and Andrew Christensen, and brother-in-law Don (Sr) Christensen. Ernie loved all animals, wild and domestic, and had a special soft spot for dogs. His boyhood dream of having a canine companion was realized when he welcomed two abandoned dogs into the family. First, Sam and then Sweetie. More recently, he became Opa to his neighbors' dogs who were frequent visitors in his home (you know who you are, Toby and Diego)! Honoring Ernie's wishes, there will be no funeral service. Donations in his memory may be made to Engineers Without Borders.