Jon Weslie George

Jon Weslie George, age 88, of Springfield, Missouri, passed away peacefully in his home on November 8, 2024. Jon was born to Urso and May George on August 12, 1936, in Jefferson City, MO. He graduated from Joplin High School in 1954. Jon was united in marriage to DeAnn Dickerson on May 27, 1957, in Joplin, and they celebrated over 50 years of marriage before her passing. They had three children together, Sheila, Sarah, and John. Jon married Connie George in 2019 in Eureka Springs, AR and along with step-son, Rocco, they shared 15 loving years together.
Jon proudly served in the United States Army Signal Corps, 93rd Signal Brigade, Fort Knox, KY, attaining the rank of Captain before his honorable discharge in 1961. He earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and an MBA from Stetson University in DeLand, FL. He was employed as a jet propulsion engineer with Rocketdyne Corporation in Neosho, MO, and then North American Rockwell, Cape Canaveral, FL, where he tested some of the rocket engines used in NASA's Project Mercury and Project Apollo. While at the Cape, Jon served as Senior Test Engineer on the Apollo Lunar Module's ascent engines, which included the Apollo 11 through 14 moon landing missions. After this, Jon and DeAnn returned home to Missouri and purchased Radiophone Service Company (soon to be Radiophone Engineering Inc.) from his father Urso. Amongst his achievements, in 1982, before cellular phone technology was readily available, he built out the area's first private mobile telephone system. In 1988, Motorola Inc.'s executive leadership selected him to serve on their inaugural North American Service Advisory Council, an honor only given to six of several hundred Authorized Partner owners, and the only member not chosen from a major metropolitan city. Jon semi-retired after selling Radiophone to his son in 2011, and fully retired last summer after 52 years with the company.
Over the years, he had many interests and pastimes including playing drums, ballroom & salsa dancing, shooting snooker, sportscar collection, Formula One, photography, Sailor Jerry rum, and traveling. Nothing, however, besides family and friends, brought him more fulfillment than driving race cars. He competed in the North American Ferrari Challenge series for several years, racing throughout the U.S., Canada, and Italy. Jon will be remembered as energetic, upbeat, quick with a joke and as someone who never met a stranger. He especially enjoyed sharing his life experiences, stories, and wisdom with young people, many of whom would talk with him for hours and looked to him as a role model for how to treat people, earn success, and live to the fullest. He loved to say, "I suck the marrow out of life!"
Jon was preceded in death by his father Urso George; his mother May Lowe George and first wife, DeAnn Dickerson George. He is survived by his wife Connie George; 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 9 great-grandchildren.
A Memorial Service for Jon will be held on Saturday, November 16, 2024, at Noon at Greenlawn Funeral Home East.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made in Jon's memory to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.