Plankowner
Posts: 5024
Location: Gulfport, MS | Subject: Sunday Obit
DUNAWAY, Jack Quitman, 89, passed on June 22, 2018. Jack was born in San Antonio on September 7, 1928, to Harry Quitman and Pearl (Jenkins) Dunaway. After graduating Brackenridge High School he left San Antonio to join the Navy, serving three years (1946-1949) as an Electronics Technician in the Submarine Service. Assigned to Pearl Harbor, he served on USS Cabezon (SS-334) April to July 1948 and became a plankowner for being in the commissioning detail of the first Guppy Snorkel, USS TIRU (SS-416), on August 1, 1948. He spent over two years at Pearl Harbor, and for a time was quartered in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. After his service, Jack attended the University of Texas at Austin. He was also accepted at other schools, including Stanford and Annapolis, declining because his ailing family needed him nearby. It was in Austin that he met his future wife, Doreen Ann Gage, and they were married in Austin in 1953. After graduating in 1954 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, he became a Registered Professional Engineer. He designed high and low voltage apparatus for distribution, transmission, and utilization for major electrical equipment manufacturers. In 1964 he became NASA maintenance contractor Chief Electrical Engineer during the construction phase of the Johnson Space Center until 1966, then joined NASA as the Senior Electrical Engineer for the Crew Systems Division. He spent many years engineering and supporting various astronaut training facilities, including the centrifuge, lunar gravity simulators, and thermal vacuum chambers used to test both astronauts and space suits in harsh space and lunar environments. He received various achievement awards for contributions to the Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle programs, including for his contributions to the famous make-shift carbon dioxide scrubber required to save the lives of the Apollo 13 crew. He retired from NASA in 1990, joining Grumman as Space Station Integration Systems Manager for Extravehicular Activities. Jack and Doreen's first son, Steve, was born in 1956 and son Brian in 1959. The family spent their early years together in Sharpstown from 1957 to 1983, then moving to Quail Valley in Missouri City, Texas. The family enjoyed traveling and spent many vacations on the beach and ski slopes, as well as camping trips. He was an active member of St. Paul Presbyterian Church of Houston, where he served as an elder and trustee. He was Scoutmaster for Troop 555 at St. Paul for ten years, and was an admired figure to many young men. He was a wonderful father and a great example. Jack leaves his beloved wife Doreen, and sons Stephen Ross Dunaway of Seattle and Brian Robert Dunaway of Houston, and grandsons Sean Dunaway of Seattle and Ryan Parks of San Francisco. He is predeceased by his father Harry Quitman Dunaway and mother Pearl (Jenkins) Dunaway of San Antonio, brother Patrick of Fort Worth, sister Dorothy Coy of San Antonio, sister Josephine Tankersley of Highland Haven, TX, and sister-in-law Maureen Anderson of Baton Rouge. He is survived by his sister Katherine Galanski of Houston, and sister-in-law Mary Hawkins of Austin. Jack was a kind and gentle man, always with a smile, a stranger to no one, and dear to everyone who knew him. He was a loving and caring husband, and he will be missed greatly, every day, by his family and friends. Published in Houston Chronicle on July 1, 2018
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Sunday Obit
