Maurice Gayle "Barney" Burnett, a resident of San Jose, CA, passed away on February 12, 2015, at the age of 97. Maurice was the younger of two sons born to the parents of Ben and Maude Burnett, of Lockwood, Missouri, a small farming community. He and his older brother, Bill, continued to work the farm after the early death of their father. The family's social life revolved almost exclusively around the Baptist Church. Maurice had many boyhood stories, ranging from hunting and fishing, to swinging through the trees after returning from watching the latest Tarzan movie for 5 cents at the town movie house, to even towing his brother down the dirt farmhouse road behind the family's Model A Ford in a glider his brother built in High School shop class. The glider incident ended with both boys being grounded, after their mother nearly had a heart attack watching the events unfold, and the glider being sold. Maurice left the farm for college in 1934, not to return except for occasional visits to his mother. He attended Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, where he met his future wife, and graduated in 1939 as an Athlete major. He married Doris Langdon, his wife of 64 years, in May 1940. His brief career of teaching and coaching came to an end with the onset of World War II. Not being deterred by his previous boyhood grounding incident, he entered into the Army Air Forces, which later became the U.S. Air Force. Twenty six exceptionally interesting years followed as an Air Force Command Pilot and Master Missleman. In 1951 he was selected to attend a specially tailored curriculum under the auspice of the AF Institute of Technology, and earned a Masters Degree in Aerial Photographic Reconnaissance. Maurice spent another three years assigned to the Boston University Optical Research Laboratory as the pilot of a B-26 bomber specifically equipped and dedicated to research in the field of aerial reconnaissance. When the United States was caught off guard with the launch and orbit of the Soviet's first satellite, SPUTNIK, on October 14, 1957, the space race was on. President Dwight Eisenhower endorsed a new spaceborne program for overhead reconnaissance over "denied territory" in February 1958, which evolved into the Corona program, followed by the Gambit program. In 1960 Maurice was transferred to Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) in El Segundo, California, in support of these programs, as a Research and Development Officer assigned to the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force Special Projects. Maurice was heavily involved in these now-declassified programs until he retired from the Air Force at the rank of Lt. Col. in 1969. Maurice continued his work in spaceborne reconnaissance by joining Itek Corporation in July 1969, and was involved in the development of a mapping camera which flew on 12 of the 20 missions on the now declassified Hexagon program. He retired from Itek Corporation in April 1983.He continued to work part-time as a consultant to government agencies through 1985, and also wrote the book, "Hexagon (KH-9) Mapping Camera Program and Evolution," at the request of the Director of the Air Force Program at the National Reconnaissance Office. Maurice was an avid photographer, loved fishing and boating, and enjoyed fixing anything that was broken. He devoted much of his retired life to helping family and friends. Maurice is survived by his devoted children, Vicki (Ken) Green of Anthem, AZ, Janel Burnett of Mountain View and Richard Burnett of Milpitas, granddaughter Jessica Burnett of San Jose, great grandson Ryan DeMaderios, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife Doris in 2004 and granddaughter Desiree Green in 1987. "Barney" touched the lives of many people with his wisdom, smile, and good-natured humor. He will be greatly missed. A graveside service for family and friends was held on March 6, 2015,at Los Gatos Memorial Park in San Jose, CA.