Allen A. Gault

GAULT ALLEN ATTICK GAULT June 30, 1924 ~ October 15, 2010 Allen Attick Gault, 87, of Jessup, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, died October 15, 2010. He was born June 30, 1924, one of three sons of Edwin R. and Bessie Gault of Harrisburg, PA. HIs twin brother, George William Gault, of Elkridge, MD, predeceased him in 2007, and an older brother, Edwin R. Gault, of Camp Hall, PA, died in 1996, survived by a wife, Dorothy and a surviving daughter, Barbara Huff of New Cumberland, PA. Neither Allen, nor his twin brother George, ever married or had children. The twin brothers graduated from Harrisburg Public Schools in 1943 and immediately entered the army. Allen saved his mother's record of his army paychecks sent home, beginning at $25.00, showing the 10% he asked her to send to Memorial Lutheran Church in Harrisburg. The rest went to savings. Allen also kept a letter on White House stationery thanking him and all returning soldiers for their service.It is signed in blue ink and appears to be the original signature of Harry S. Truman. After the war, Allen graduated from Skidmore College's University Without Walls. program and earned a graduate degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1961, Mr. Gault began 26 years of employment with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. In 1973, Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., Director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, presented him with a framed collage composed of a pen and ink drawing of Skylab, a miniature cloth American flag carried aboard the lab's flight around the world and a prominently displayed statement addressed to " Allen A. Gault for helping make possible the first successful flight and operation of history's first manned space station." It was signed by Director Kraft. That flight took place July to September 1973. Ten years later, James M. Beggs, Administrator of NASA, and Erik Quistgaard, Director General of the European Space Agency, jointly presented Gault with an NASA-ESA bronze medallion impressed with an image of the sleekly modern Spacelab I. With the medallion, was a brass plate with the engraved signatures of both chief officers addressed to "Allen A. Gault. This Medallion, flown aboard Spacelab I, November 28 to December 8, 1983, is given to you for your Exceptional Contribution to the outstandingly successful international collaboration which produced Spacelab's first payload and its remarkable first flight." Both items were embedded in an acrylic block for desk display. A.C. Rosenberg, a supervisor at Goddard, wrote that Allen Gault "did professional work, was an outstanding employee and was a gentleman in all aspects of the word." After retirement in 1987, Mr. Gault founded Loomis Labs, Inc., dealing in electronic equipment and expertise. A great benefactor of animal charities during his lifetime, he named as beneficiaries of his Will the Humane Society of the U.S., Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, National Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife and World Wildlife Fund. As of yet, no services have been organized.