C. Dixon Ashworth

ASHWORTH C. DIXON ASHWORTH (Age 89) C. Dixon "Dick" Ashworth, died December 30, 2008 in Concord, NH. He was born June 29, 1919 in Cambridge, NY., son of E. Merritt and Eleanor Sherman Ashworth. He attended school in Hoosick Falls, NY, and graduated in 1941 as an aeronautical engineer from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was president of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Langley, VA, and was a principal researcher at the trans-sonic wind tunnel at the David Taylor Model Basin in Carderock, MD, to 1959. Dick then worked for NASA, where he was program manager for scientific satellites including the Orbiting Geophysical Observatory, the Orbiting Solar Observatory, all of which provided new scientific data on Earth, the sun, and our universe. He met his wife, Vivian McClure Ashworth, of Valley Falls, NY, on a blind date at Hedges Lake, NY. Dick and Vivian built a home in Potomac, MD and were members of the Potomac United Methodist Church, participating in church activities and enjoying charitable work including delivering Meals on Wheels. They were married 56 years before Vivian's death in 1997, shortly after the death in Colorado of their daughter, Gretchen Brumback. Dick moved to Hebron in 2000 and married Marian S. Ashworth in 2002 in the Plymouth Congregational Church; Marian preceded him in death in 2004. Dick was interested in genealogy and was a Member of the Sons of the Revolution and the Society of Mayflower Descendants. He worked as a volunteer at Speare Memorial Hospital in Plymouth, NH. He will be missed by his loyal dog, Jo. He is survived by his children, Ann (Robert) Croll of Bayfield, CO, Jill (Daryl) DeCesare of Princess Anne, MD, Clark (Elissa) Ashworth of Coleville, WA, and Brooke (Biff) Wisner of Hebron; 15 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Jane Carpenter of Cambridge, NY, and Ann Sellitto of Staten Island, NY. Services will be announced at a later date. Donations in Dick Ashworth's name may be made to the Speare Memorial Hospital Volunteer Program in Plymouth, NH.