Fred William Weeks

WEEKS, Fred William
SMSgt, USAF (Ret.)


(1927-2007) Died on Nov. 2, 2007, in Yuma, Ariz. He was born Oct. 1, 1927, in Kinston, Ala., to Willie and Daisy (Price) Weeks. He entered the Air Force in 1995 and retired from McClellan AFB, Sacramento, in 1967, where he was the Air Traffic Control Superintendent and director of Flight Facilities for the A.F. Communications Service.

Fred's military career as an air traffic controller included Project Sandstone (atomic bomb test) and Operation Ivy (the first atomic hydrogen bomb test), both in the Marshall Islands. He served at Adak in the Aleutian Islands during the Korean conflict and at Bien Hoa and Pleiku, Vietnam, during that war. Other duty assignments included: Maxwell AFB, Ala.; Scott Field, Ill.; National Airport, Washington, D.C.; Eglin AFB, Fla.; Frankfurt and Rhein Main, Germany; Larson AFB, Wash.; Itazuke AFB, Japan; and Dover AFB, Del. He was awarded several medals and commendations, including the Air Force Commendation Medal.

Fred's civilian career began as a supervisor at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where he worked on a project involving the first soft landing on the moon. He later worked for the Chester Paul Co., during which time he started his own company, Fred Weeks, Inc., and continued contracting his services to the Chester Paul Co. until his retirement in 1990.

Fred was predeceased by his parents and his brother Ray. He is survived by his sister Ella Jean Sizemore of Enterprise, Ala., his sons David Weeks of Fair Oaks and Philip Weeks of Wasilla, Alaska, his daughters, Sherrie Miller and Michelle Swartz of Seward, Alaska, eight grandchildren, his former wife and mother of his children Patricia Weeks of Sacramento, to whom he was married in 1952 in Washington, D.C., and divorced in 1972.

A celebration of his life will be held June 17, 2008, in Seward, where his family will gather to scatter his remains in Resurrection Bay where he loved to fish.