Cat's Tales

[Nancy_Hutchison]

Try 62 Nancy.

Mikado

Mikado, it this "better"?

Hello Patricia.
Your father was only 62 years old when he passed.
Why did he die so young?

Nancy

[StarCat]

Robinson, William L, b. 03/15/1914, d. 02/02/1976, SGT US ARMY AIR CORPS, Plot: Q 7182, bur. 02/05/1976

From the Veterans data base.

Mikado

Yep. Beautiful weather the day he died. Helluva blizzard the day he was buried.

Cat

[StarCat]

To continue, my parents were married in a garden wedding in Hanna, WY on August 14, 1946. I don't know what my dad had been doing in between the Army Air Corps and getting married. My mom, Constance Grace Kelly, had worked for Civil Service in Dallas, TX during the war. After they got married, they lived in San Antonio until early 1952. Other than having my brother, I don't what they were doing during those years.

In 1952 they relocated to Aurora, CO. The Air Force Academy was in its infancy at Lowry AFB. My dad taught there briefly, and the family lived on Dayton St. near Colfax Ave. Right by the east perimeter of the base. Dad didn't like teaching, so he moved on to National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, which was a defense contractor at the time. Sometime before 1956, they moved to the Shaw Heights subdivision that was being built in Westminster. Dad carpooled with Henry Salazar and Harold Dougherty. One car families were the norm at the time. I've tried to remember other names over the years. One name was Marshall Coon. Mr. Coon lived in Boulder. I googled his name last year, and discovered that he was present at the first atomic bomb test. That pretty well screamed "classified."

Dad made a lot of work trips to a lot of places over the years. I've looked at various locations, and discovered that a major military presence was in every area. One that puzzled me was the trip to the eastern shore of Virginia in 1971. That one lasted several months. I wondered what was out there other than potato farms. Wallop Island launch facility. I know some of the work he did involved weather satellites, but what else was incorporated into those satellites? This was the Cold War era. I don't think manpower was being used just to improve weather forecasting.

Cat

[DavidG]

Not sure of any Florida connections Cat, I was in Jacksonville for a while, but have never seen references to any clandestine ops in the areas which you asked about....I will say, Max Planck is in Jupiter, Fl, and what they do there is cutting edge....perhaps there is some reason for the institute to have been built there at Florida Atlantic University campus?

As you may remember, doing an art show in the shadow of that complex.....the day it was being fired up....specifically all the neural lab equipment....it was like I suddenly connected with all of the universe at once overnight.....several others said they felt the same thing that weekend...and I still get chills and goosebumps when I drive near it to this day.....corny perhaps, but real to me.

With noaa and essa as subjects of this hunt, Id say its possible your dad might have worked on scalar weaponry, or even HAARP to some degree..the latter of which we see has been "shut down" or handed over to governmental entities now, and the former which requires some sort of great understanding of meteorological conditions and effects.

[StarCat]

I figured it was a long shot. I'd like to get back down to the Space Coast and see if it jogs any memories. I can still picture the BalRay Motel. It was right on the beach. I can remember walking down the main drag in Cocoa, shopping in the five & dime, going to the laundromat. I know it was in 1960. My dad was working on a project at Cape Canaveral when the mice were sent up.

Onn a separate note, Luis, do you have any clues about what The Martin Company, aka Lockheed Martin these days, had going in Madrid in the sixties? I realize you're not in Spain, but you're a mite closer than Colorado. Uncle Jack was assigned to Madrid for four years. When they came back stateside, they were in Dayton.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Uncle Pat and Uncle Jim were working at Rocky Flats. I'm pretty sure the drunk Irishmen of the family let things slip at family gatherings. Everybody was working in the defense industry, so caution wasn't quite so tight.

Cat

[StarCat]

I've been trying to remember more about my dad's work. We went on a lot of his work trips with him, and from looking at locations, it was always near a military installation of some sort. I don't remember ever seeing his wirk ID, but I think he must have had one. I also remember when we went to Ft. Lewis to see my brother graduate from basic training. My dad hadn't been in the active military for more than twenty years, but he still was very familiar with the way an Army base operated. I realize that some things don't really change, but neither do they stay exactly the same. I have the impression that he was probably a regular visitor to miltary bases.

Cat

[StarCat]

Heard about another site for military records and checked it out. Fold3, which is owned by Ancestry.com has military records. I was able to find my dad's. Then I researched his job prior to enlistment. I knew he worked in coal mining, but not what. He held the position of fireman, which is basically the equivalent of a canary in a coal mine.


Cat