Obit: WILBERT EARL "Hip" COOPER , 87 died March 4, 2010 in Buena Park, California where he had lived near Knotts Berry Farm for over 40 years. Born on May 5, 1922 in the Albright Township of northern Chatham County, he was the third son of the late Ethel Wright Cooper and Oliver Benson Cooper. He was a WWII veteran and a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His was preceded in death by his brothers; Oliver Houston Cooper, James Monroe Cooper, and George Clifford Cooper. His remains will be returned to Staley, NC for burial with military honors in the Staley cemetery. A private graveside service is planned with Reverend Alex Miles officiating. His family moved to the nearby little village of Staley in 1923. He graduated from Staley High School in 1941. He made It his lifelong career working for the three major Airplane/Aerospace companies over a period of 30 years. They were: The Glenn L. Martin Company , Baltimore, MD, and Denver CO; Convair Corporation , Fort Worth TX and North American Aviation, Downey and Seal Beach ,CA. After graduating from Staley High School, he went to work for the Martin Company in Baltimore. He was hired as a clerk to the Inspection Department at an hourly rate of sixty cents. At that time women were not allowed to work on the factory floor. There he worked on the B-26 medium bomber program. He was drafted in to the Army while working at Martin. He had his basic training at Camp Wheeler, GA. His training time was cut short...
WILBERT EARL "Hip" COOPER , 87 died March 4, 2010 in Buena Park, California where he had lived near Knotts Berry Farm for over 40 years. Born on May 5, 1922 in the Albright Township of northern Chatham County, he was the third son of the late Ethel Wright Cooper and Oliver Benson Cooper.
He was a WWII veteran and a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His was preceded in death by his brothers; Oliver Houston Cooper, James Monroe Cooper, and George Clifford Cooper.
His remains will be returned to Staley, NC for burial with military honors in the Staley cemetery. A private graveside service is planned with Reverend Alex Miles officiating.
His family moved to the nearby little village of Staley in 1923. He graduated from Staley High School in 1941. He made It his lifelong career working for the three major Airplane/Aerospace companies over a period of 30 years. They were: The Glenn L. Martin Company , Baltimore, MD, and Denver CO; Convair Corporation , Fort Worth TX and North American Aviation, Downey and Seal Beach ,CA.
After graduating from Staley High School, he went to work for the Martin Company in Baltimore. He was hired as a clerk to the Inspection Department at an hourly rate of sixty cents. At that time women were not allowed to work on the factory floor. There he worked on the B-26 medium bomber program. He was drafted in to the Army while working at Martin. He had his basic training at Camp Wheeler, GA. His training time was cut short by two weeks. His squad was selected to go to New York early for orientation classes and tours of the ship he would be going on to Europe. The several groups selected were all called "Salt Water MPs". His duties were to stand guard (on 2 and off 4) at various stations on the ship guarding such things as watertight doors, emergency exits, stairwells, hallways, deck traffic and manning observation stations inside the ship and on the deck. The ship was the Queen Mary. He left New York on New Years Day 1945 for Glasgow, Scotland. He served in the 319th Infantry Company E in Luxemburg, Germany and along the Rhine River.
After the war was over, Martin offered all employees who went into the military service a job back. However, at the end of the war, Martin was faced with such massive layoff that it could not offer everyone a job back at that time. Therefore, he decided to pursue an education under the GI Bill. He enrolled at Louisburg College in Louisburg, NC to obtain the requirements of the 12th grade, which his Staley High School diploma did not include. While there, he decided to complete the requirements for the freshman and sophomore years before entering the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated in 1950 with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Commerce. He was a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity at UNCCH.
With a college degree in hand, he set out for Texas. He got a job with Convair Corporation in Fort Worth on the B-36 long range heavy bomber. It was a huge airplane. It had six pusher type propeller driven engines installed on the trailing edge of the wings. At the time of its conception, it was designed to carry the atomic bomb. However, the mission later changed.
While at Convair, he received and accepted the job Martin had promised before the war. He returned to Martin Baltimore where he was hired into the Master Planning Department to write contract monthly progress reports for the Navy. At the end of the Navy contracts, he was offered and he accepted a job in the Pricing Department. There, he worked as a pricer on the Mace Tactical Mission Program. The Mace was a zero launch missile mounted on a mobile trailer. It had a liquid oxygen rocker motor for a launch boost. He was the pricing member/representative of the Martin Mace team located at the AC Spark Plug plant in Milwaukee, WI. AC Spark Plug built the guidance system for Mace. At the end of the Mace Program, he was transferred to the Martin Denver Division. There he was the Chief Cost Evaluator of the related equipment, located inside the underground silo necessary to launch the Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The underground silos were located in several of the upper western states. At the end of the Titan underground silos construction and activation program, he applied for and received a job offer in the Pricing Department with North American Aviation located in Downey, CA. After supporting the closeout negotiations of the major modification program, he was assigned to the Saturn SII Stage program. The SII Stage was the second section from the engines of the Saturn V Missile that launched the Apollo Spacecraft to the moon. He represented the Pricing Department on the SII Stage Program Change Control Board. At the end of the SII Stage program, he was assigned to the Engineering Advanced Program Department. There, he provided Engineering with project cost estimates, cost/risk analysis and financial concepts for various advanced missiles and spacecraft studies.
He designed and programmed his own Automated Matrix Pricing System (AMPS), a "What If" program for pricing numerous different configurations and concepts on the computer. It offered engineers a tool to verify the cost differences of many designs and options. At the same time, it gave engineers a rapid response estimate of the cost for those changes when comparisons were necessary. He was the Project Pricer on the conceptional design and feasibility study of the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) in 1979. It was a major program with much advance technology which NAA was awarded a contract to design and develop the satellite. The GPS Satellite was designed for future military use, as well as for many civilian users, many of which are yet to be developed. From work in the Advance Program Department, one of his favorite passages from English Literature became:
"When I dipped into the future, far as human eye can see,
saw a vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be"
Tennyson – 1892
He retired from NAA in January 1983. He traveled and played golf many times in Hawaii, Canada, South Carolina, and Florida in addition to lots of local golf playing. He was a member of the Southern California Industrial Golf Association (SCIGA). In the early part of his retirement, a local travel agent whom he had traveled with on vacations to many golf resorts asked him to assist the agent in conducting a study for AMTRAK. AMTRAK wanted to know the conditions and feasibility of traveling to golf resorts on AMTRAK to play group golf, which would be like tournament golf. The study required traveling on AMTRAK from Los Angeles to golf resorts in several cities around the country to discuss the plan and how it would be implemented. Selected cities were: San Francisco, Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Pinehurst, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Palm Springs and back to Los Angeles. The trip took 22 days. However, the increases in cost to play golf at resorts and rising problems in traveling had a curious impact on the results of the study. It was shelved.
He was married twice. His first wife was Velvis Hicks of Staley. He married Jane Kaczor of Denver as his second wife. There were no children.
He is survived by the following nieces and nephews who will sorely miss his wit and wisdom; nieces Shirley Kee (husband Gary) of Kannapolis,NC, Dianne Rumley (husband Connie), of Greensboro,NC, Carol Cooper and Connie Hicks, of Greensboro,NC, Susan Deaton (husband Jimmy) of Liberty, NC; nephews James Morris Cooper (wife Sibby), of Concord, NC, Clifford Cooper, Atlanta, GA, and Neil Cooper, Greensboro, NC.
Arrangements are being handled by Renaker-Klockgether Mortuary in Buena Park, CA and Loflin Funeral Home in Liberty. Donations to honor Wil's memory can be made to Staley United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 26, Staley, NC. 27355.
The family wishes to express many thanks to Wil's long time and dear friend, Thelma Martin and her family for the love and support they gave our uncle.
And so, it was during a lifelong career for a boy from the little village of Staley.
WILBERT EARL "Hip" COOPER , 87 died March 4, 2010 in Buena Park, California where he had lived near Knotts Berry Farm for over 40 years. Born on May 5, 1922 in the Albright Township of northern Chatham County, he was the third son of the late Ethel Wright Cooper and Oliver Benson Cooper.
He was a WWII veteran and a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His was preceded in death by his brothers; Oliver Houston Cooper, James Monroe Cooper, and George Clifford Cooper.
His remains will be returned to Staley, NC for burial with military honors in the Staley cemetery. A private graveside service is planned with Reverend Alex Miles officiating.
His family moved to the nearby little village of Staley in 1923. He graduated from Staley High School in 1941. He made It his lifelong career working for the three major Airplane/Aerospace companies over a period of 30 years. They were: The Glenn L. Martin Company , Baltimore, MD, and Denver CO; Convair Corporation , Fort Worth TX and North American Aviation, Downey and Seal Beach ,CA.
After graduating from Staley High School, he went to work for the Martin Company in Baltimore. He was hired as a clerk to the Inspection Department at an hourly rate of sixty cents. At that time women were not allowed to work on the factory floor. There he worked on the B-26 medium bomber program. He was drafted in to the Army while working at Martin. He had his basic training at Camp Wheeler, GA. His training time was cut short by two weeks. His squad was selected to go to New York early for orientation classes and tours of the ship he would be going on to Europe. The several groups selected were all called "Salt Water MPs". His duties were to stand guard (on 2 and off 4) at various stations on the ship guarding such things as watertight doors, emergency exits, stairwells, hallways, deck traffic and manning observation stations inside the ship and on the deck. The ship was the Queen Mary. He left New York on New Years Day 1945 for Glasgow, Scotland. He served in the 319th Infantry Company E in Luxemburg, Germany and along the Rhine River.
After the war was over, Martin offered all employees who went into the military service a job back. However, at the end of the war, Martin was faced with such massive layoff that it could not offer everyone a job back at that time. Therefore, he decided to pursue an education under the GI Bill. He enrolled at Louisburg College in Louisburg, NC to obtain the requirements of the 12th grade, which his Staley High School diploma did not include. While there, he decided to complete the requirements for the freshman and sophomore years before entering the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated in 1950 with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Commerce. He was a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity at UNCCH.
With a college degree in hand, he set out for Texas. He got a job with Convair Corporation in Fort Worth on the B-36 long range heavy bomber. It was a huge airplane. It had six pusher type propeller driven engines installed on the trailing edge of the wings. At the time of its conception, it was designed to carry the atomic bomb. However, the mission later changed.
While at Convair, he received and accepted the job Martin had promised before the war. He returned to Martin Baltimore where he was hired into the Master Planning Department to write contract monthly progress reports for the Navy. At the end of the Navy contracts, he was offered and he accepted a job in the Pricing Department. There, he worked as a pricer on the Mace Tactical Mission Program. The Mace was a zero launch missile mounted on a mobile trailer. It had a liquid oxygen rocker motor for a launch boost. He was the pricing member/representative of the Martin Mace team located at the AC Spark Plug plant in Milwaukee, WI. AC Spark Plug built the guidance system for Mace. At the end of the Mace Program, he was transferred to the Martin Denver Division. There he was the Chief Cost Evaluator of the related equipment, located inside the underground silo necessary to launch the Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The underground silos were located in several of the upper western states. At the end of the Titan underground silos construction and activation program, he applied for and received a job offer in the Pricing Department with North American Aviation located in Downey, CA. After supporting the closeout negotiations of the major modification program, he was assigned to the Saturn SII Stage program. The SII Stage was the second section from the engines of the Saturn V Missile that launched the Apollo Spacecraft to the moon. He represented the Pricing Department on the SII Stage Program Change Control Board. At the end of the SII Stage program, he was assigned to the Engineering Advanced Program Department. There, he provided Engineering with project cost estimates, cost/risk analysis and financial concepts for various advanced missiles and spacecraft studies.
He designed and programmed his own Automated Matrix Pricing System (AMPS), a "What If" program for pricing numerous different configurations and concepts on the computer. It offered engineers a tool to verify the cost differences of many designs and options. At the same time, it gave engineers a rapid response estimate of the cost for those changes when comparisons were necessary. He was the Project Pricer on the conceptional design and feasibility study of the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) in 1979. It was a major program with much advance technology which NAA was awarded a contract to design and develop the satellite. The GPS Satellite was designed for future military use, as well as for many civilian users, many of which are yet to be developed. From work in the Advance Program Department, one of his favorite passages from English Literature became:
"When I dipped into the future, far as human eye can see,
saw a vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be"
Tennyson – 1892
He retired from NAA in January 1983. He traveled and played golf many times in Hawaii, Canada, South Carolina, and Florida in addition to lots of local golf playing. He was a member of the Southern California Industrial Golf Association (SCIGA). In the early part of his retirement, a local travel agent whom he had traveled with on vacations to many golf resorts asked him to assist the agent in conducting a study for AMTRAK. AMTRAK wanted to know the conditions and feasibility of traveling to golf resorts on AMTRAK to play group golf, which would be like tournament golf. The study required traveling on AMTRAK from Los Angeles to golf resorts in several cities around the country to discuss the plan and how it would be implemented. Selected cities were: San Francisco, Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Pinehurst, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Palm Springs and back to Los Angeles. The trip took 22 days. However, the increases in cost to play golf at resorts and rising problems in traveling had a curious impact on the results of the study. It was shelved.
He was married twice. His first wife was Velvis Hicks of Staley. He married Jane Kaczor of Denver as his second wife. There were no children.
He is survived by the following nieces and nephews who will sorely miss his wit and wisdom; nieces Shirley Kee (husband Gary) of Kannapolis,NC, Dianne Rumley (husband Connie), of Greensboro,NC, Carol Cooper and Connie Hicks, of Greensboro,NC, Susan Deaton (husband Jimmy) of Liberty, NC; nephews James Morris Cooper (wife Sibby), of Concord, NC, Clifford Cooper, Atlanta, GA, and Neil Cooper, Greensboro, NC.
Arrangements are being handled by Renaker-Klockgether Mortuary in Buena Park, CA and Loflin Funeral Home in Liberty. Donations to honor Wil's memory can be made to Staley United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 26, Staley, NC. 27355.
The family wishes to express many thanks to Wil's long time and dear friend, Thelma Martin and her family for the love and support they gave our uncle.
And so, it was during a lifelong career for a boy from the little village of Staley.
Obit: WILBERT EARL "Hip" COOPER , 87 died March 4, 2010 in Buena Park, California where he had lived near Knotts Berry Farm for over 40 years. Born on May 5, 1922 in the Albright Township of northern Chatham County, he was the third son of the late Ethel Wright Cooper and Oliver Benson Cooper. He was a WWII veteran and a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His was preceded in death by his brothers; Oliver Houston Cooper, James Monroe Cooper, and George Clifford Cooper. His remains will be returned to Staley, NC for burial with military honors in the Staley cemetery. A private graveside service is planned with Reverend Alex Miles officiating. His family moved to the nearby little village of Staley in 1923. He graduated from Staley High School in 1941. He made It his lifelong career working for the three major Airplane/Aerospace companies over a period of 30 years. They were: The Glenn L. Martin Company , Baltimore, MD, and Denver CO; Convair Corporation , Fort Worth TX and North American Aviation, Downey and Seal Beach ,CA. After graduating from Staley High School, he went to work for the Martin Company in Baltimore. He was hired as a clerk to the Inspection Department at an hourly rate of sixty cents. At that time women were not allowed to work on the factory floor. There he worked on the B-26 medium bomber program. He was drafted in to the Army while working at Martin. He had his basic training at Camp Wheeler, GA. His training time was cut short...
WILBERT EARL "Hip" COOPER , 87 died March 4, 2010 in Buena Park, California where he had lived near Knotts Berry Farm for over 40 years. Born on May 5, 1922 in the Albright Township of northern Chatham County, he was the third son of the late Ethel Wright Cooper and Oliver Benson Cooper.
He was a WWII veteran and a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His was preceded in death by his brothers; Oliver Houston Cooper, James Monroe Cooper, and George Clifford Cooper.
His remains will be returned to Staley, NC for burial with military honors in the Staley cemetery. A private graveside service is planned with Reverend Alex Miles officiating.
His family moved to the nearby little village of Staley in 1923. He graduated from Staley High School in 1941. He made It his lifelong career working for the three major Airplane/Aerospace companies over a period of 30 years. They were: The Glenn L. Martin Company , Baltimore, MD, and Denver CO; Convair Corporation , Fort Worth TX and North American Aviation, Downey and Seal Beach ,CA.
After graduating from Staley High School, he went to work for the Martin Company in Baltimore. He was hired as a clerk to the Inspection Department at an hourly rate of sixty cents. At that time women were not allowed to work on the factory floor. There he worked on the B-26 medium bomber program. He was drafted in to the Army while working at Martin. He had his basic training at Camp Wheeler, GA. His training time was cut short by two weeks. His squad was selected to go to New York early for orientation classes and tours of the ship he would be going on to Europe. The several groups selected were all called "Salt Water MPs". His duties were to stand guard (on 2 and off 4) at various stations on the ship guarding such things as watertight doors, emergency exits, stairwells, hallways, deck traffic and manning observation stations inside the ship and on the deck. The ship was the Queen Mary. He left New York on New Years Day 1945 for Glasgow, Scotland. He served in the 319th Infantry Company E in Luxemburg, Germany and along the Rhine River.
After the war was over, Martin offered all employees who went into the military service a job back. However, at the end of the war, Martin was faced with such massive layoff that it could not offer everyone a job back at that time. Therefore, he decided to pursue an education under the GI Bill. He enrolled at Louisburg College in Louisburg, NC to obtain the requirements of the 12th grade, which his Staley High School diploma did not include. While there, he decided to complete the requirements for the freshman and sophomore years before entering the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated in 1950 with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Commerce. He was a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity at UNCCH.
With a college degree in hand, he set out for Texas. He got a job with Convair Corporation in Fort Worth on the B-36 long range heavy bomber. It was a huge airplane. It had six pusher type propeller driven engines installed on the trailing edge of the wings. At the time of its conception, it was designed to carry the atomic bomb. However, the mission later changed.
While at Convair, he received and accepted the job Martin had promised before the war. He returned to Martin Baltimore where he was hired into the Master Planning Department to write contract monthly progress reports for the Navy. At the end of the Navy contracts, he was offered and he accepted a job in the Pricing Department. There, he worked as a pricer on the Mace Tactical Mission Program. The Mace was a zero launch missile mounted on a mobile trailer. It had a liquid oxygen rocker motor for a launch boost. He was the pricing member/representative of the Martin Mace team located at the AC Spark Plug plant in Milwaukee, WI. AC Spark Plug built the guidance system for Mace. At the end of the Mace Program, he was transferred to the Martin Denver Division. There he was the Chief Cost Evaluator of the related equipment, located inside the underground silo necessary to launch the Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The underground silos were located in several of the upper western states. At the end of the Titan underground silos construction and activation program, he applied for and received a job offer in the Pricing Department with North American Aviation located in Downey, CA. After supporting the closeout negotiations of the major modification program, he was assigned to the Saturn SII Stage program. The SII Stage was the second section from the engines of the Saturn V Missile that launched the Apollo Spacecraft to the moon. He represented the Pricing Department on the SII Stage Program Change Control Board. At the end of the SII Stage program, he was assigned to the Engineering Advanced Program Department. There, he provided Engineering with project cost estimates, cost/risk analysis and financial concepts for various advanced missiles and spacecraft studies.
He designed and programmed his own Automated Matrix Pricing System (AMPS), a "What If" program for pricing numerous different configurations and concepts on the computer. It offered engineers a tool to verify the cost differences of many designs and options. At the same time, it gave engineers a rapid response estimate of the cost for those changes when comparisons were necessary. He was the Project Pricer on the conceptional design and feasibility study of the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) in 1979. It was a major program with much advance technology which NAA was awarded a contract to design and develop the satellite. The GPS Satellite was designed for future military use, as well as for many civilian users, many of which are yet to be developed. From work in the Advance Program Department, one of his favorite passages from English Literature became:
"When I dipped into the future, far as human eye can see,
saw a vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be"
Tennyson – 1892
He retired from NAA in January 1983. He traveled and played golf many times in Hawaii, Canada, South Carolina, and Florida in addition to lots of local golf playing. He was a member of the Southern California Industrial Golf Association (SCIGA). In the early part of his retirement, a local travel agent whom he had traveled with on vacations to many golf resorts asked him to assist the agent in conducting a study for AMTRAK. AMTRAK wanted to know the conditions and feasibility of traveling to golf resorts on AMTRAK to play group golf, which would be like tournament golf. The study required traveling on AMTRAK from Los Angeles to golf resorts in several cities around the country to discuss the plan and how it would be implemented. Selected cities were: San Francisco, Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Pinehurst, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Palm Springs and back to Los Angeles. The trip took 22 days. However, the increases in cost to play golf at resorts and rising problems in traveling had a curious impact on the results of the study. It was shelved.
He was married twice. His first wife was Velvis Hicks of Staley. He married Jane Kaczor of Denver as his second wife. There were no children.
He is survived by the following nieces and nephews who will sorely miss his wit and wisdom; nieces Shirley Kee (husband Gary) of Kannapolis,NC, Dianne Rumley (husband Connie), of Greensboro,NC, Carol Cooper and Connie Hicks, of Greensboro,NC, Susan Deaton (husband Jimmy) of Liberty, NC; nephews James Morris Cooper (wife Sibby), of Concord, NC, Clifford Cooper, Atlanta, GA, and Neil Cooper, Greensboro, NC.
Arrangements are being handled by Renaker-Klockgether Mortuary in Buena Park, CA and Loflin Funeral Home in Liberty. Donations to honor Wil's memory can be made to Staley United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 26, Staley, NC. 27355.
The family wishes to express many thanks to Wil's long time and dear friend, Thelma Martin and her family for the love and support they gave our uncle.
And so, it was during a lifelong career for a boy from the little village of Staley.
WILBERT EARL "Hip" COOPER , 87 died March 4, 2010 in Buena Park, California where he had lived near Knotts Berry Farm for over 40 years. Born on May 5, 1922 in the Albright Township of northern Chatham County, he was the third son of the late Ethel Wright Cooper and Oliver Benson Cooper.
He was a WWII veteran and a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His was preceded in death by his brothers; Oliver Houston Cooper, James Monroe Cooper, and George Clifford Cooper.
His remains will be returned to Staley, NC for burial with military honors in the Staley cemetery. A private graveside service is planned with Reverend Alex Miles officiating.
His family moved to the nearby little village of Staley in 1923. He graduated from Staley High School in 1941. He made It his lifelong career working for the three major Airplane/Aerospace companies over a period of 30 years. They were: The Glenn L. Martin Company , Baltimore, MD, and Denver CO; Convair Corporation , Fort Worth TX and North American Aviation, Downey and Seal Beach ,CA.
After graduating from Staley High School, he went to work for the Martin Company in Baltimore. He was hired as a clerk to the Inspection Department at an hourly rate of sixty cents. At that time women were not allowed to work on the factory floor. There he worked on the B-26 medium bomber program. He was drafted in to the Army while working at Martin. He had his basic training at Camp Wheeler, GA. His training time was cut short by two weeks. His squad was selected to go to New York early for orientation classes and tours of the ship he would be going on to Europe. The several groups selected were all called "Salt Water MPs". His duties were to stand guard (on 2 and off 4) at various stations on the ship guarding such things as watertight doors, emergency exits, stairwells, hallways, deck traffic and manning observation stations inside the ship and on the deck. The ship was the Queen Mary. He left New York on New Years Day 1945 for Glasgow, Scotland. He served in the 319th Infantry Company E in Luxemburg, Germany and along the Rhine River.
After the war was over, Martin offered all employees who went into the military service a job back. However, at the end of the war, Martin was faced with such massive layoff that it could not offer everyone a job back at that time. Therefore, he decided to pursue an education under the GI Bill. He enrolled at Louisburg College in Louisburg, NC to obtain the requirements of the 12th grade, which his Staley High School diploma did not include. While there, he decided to complete the requirements for the freshman and sophomore years before entering the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated in 1950 with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Commerce. He was a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity at UNCCH.
With a college degree in hand, he set out for Texas. He got a job with Convair Corporation in Fort Worth on the B-36 long range heavy bomber. It was a huge airplane. It had six pusher type propeller driven engines installed on the trailing edge of the wings. At the time of its conception, it was designed to carry the atomic bomb. However, the mission later changed.
While at Convair, he received and accepted the job Martin had promised before the war. He returned to Martin Baltimore where he was hired into the Master Planning Department to write contract monthly progress reports for the Navy. At the end of the Navy contracts, he was offered and he accepted a job in the Pricing Department. There, he worked as a pricer on the Mace Tactical Mission Program. The Mace was a zero launch missile mounted on a mobile trailer. It had a liquid oxygen rocker motor for a launch boost. He was the pricing member/representative of the Martin Mace team located at the AC Spark Plug plant in Milwaukee, WI. AC Spark Plug built the guidance system for Mace. At the end of the Mace Program, he was transferred to the Martin Denver Division. There he was the Chief Cost Evaluator of the related equipment, located inside the underground silo necessary to launch the Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The underground silos were located in several of the upper western states. At the end of the Titan underground silos construction and activation program, he applied for and received a job offer in the Pricing Department with North American Aviation located in Downey, CA. After supporting the closeout negotiations of the major modification program, he was assigned to the Saturn SII Stage program. The SII Stage was the second section from the engines of the Saturn V Missile that launched the Apollo Spacecraft to the moon. He represented the Pricing Department on the SII Stage Program Change Control Board. At the end of the SII Stage program, he was assigned to the Engineering Advanced Program Department. There, he provided Engineering with project cost estimates, cost/risk analysis and financial concepts for various advanced missiles and spacecraft studies.
He designed and programmed his own Automated Matrix Pricing System (AMPS), a "What If" program for pricing numerous different configurations and concepts on the computer. It offered engineers a tool to verify the cost differences of many designs and options. At the same time, it gave engineers a rapid response estimate of the cost for those changes when comparisons were necessary. He was the Project Pricer on the conceptional design and feasibility study of the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) in 1979. It was a major program with much advance technology which NAA was awarded a contract to design and develop the satellite. The GPS Satellite was designed for future military use, as well as for many civilian users, many of which are yet to be developed. From work in the Advance Program Department, one of his favorite passages from English Literature became:
"When I dipped into the future, far as human eye can see,
saw a vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be"
Tennyson – 1892
He retired from NAA in January 1983. He traveled and played golf many times in Hawaii, Canada, South Carolina, and Florida in addition to lots of local golf playing. He was a member of the Southern California Industrial Golf Association (SCIGA). In the early part of his retirement, a local travel agent whom he had traveled with on vacations to many golf resorts asked him to assist the agent in conducting a study for AMTRAK. AMTRAK wanted to know the conditions and feasibility of traveling to golf resorts on AMTRAK to play group golf, which would be like tournament golf. The study required traveling on AMTRAK from Los Angeles to golf resorts in several cities around the country to discuss the plan and how it would be implemented. Selected cities were: San Francisco, Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Pinehurst, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Palm Springs and back to Los Angeles. The trip took 22 days. However, the increases in cost to play golf at resorts and rising problems in traveling had a curious impact on the results of the study. It was shelved.
He was married twice. His first wife was Velvis Hicks of Staley. He married Jane Kaczor of Denver as his second wife. There were no children.
He is survived by the following nieces and nephews who will sorely miss his wit and wisdom; nieces Shirley Kee (husband Gary) of Kannapolis,NC, Dianne Rumley (husband Connie), of Greensboro,NC, Carol Cooper and Connie Hicks, of Greensboro,NC, Susan Deaton (husband Jimmy) of Liberty, NC; nephews James Morris Cooper (wife Sibby), of Concord, NC, Clifford Cooper, Atlanta, GA, and Neil Cooper, Greensboro, NC.
Arrangements are being handled by Renaker-Klockgether Mortuary in Buena Park, CA and Loflin Funeral Home in Liberty. Donations to honor Wil's memory can be made to Staley United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 26, Staley, NC. 27355.
The family wishes to express many thanks to Wil's long time and dear friend, Thelma Martin and her family for the love and support they gave our uncle.
And so, it was during a lifelong career for a boy from the little village of Staley.
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