Thomas Glanville
Thomas R. Glanville, 83, passed away Nov. 23, 2006, at his home in Whitefish after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
He was born Feb. 14, 1923, in Mason City, Iowa, where he resided until age 18. In 1941, following high school and a year of college, he and his family moved to Long Beach, Calif., where his father was employed by the Douglas Aircraft Co.
In 1943, he entered the U.S. Army Air Force. After teaching advanced electronics for two years at Truax Field in Madison, Wis., he was assigned to "Project B," a highly classified special-instruction program for all B-29 bomber radiomen. Among those he taught were the radio operators who flew the historic missions in the "Enola Gay," dropping the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan.
While at Madison, Tom met and married Stella Ruth "Peggy" House of Jasper, Ala. on Jan. 24, 1945.
Following service, he continued his college education, majoring in mathematics and electrical engineering. In 1948, Tom began a career with Northrop Aircraft, of Hawthorne, Calif., which spanned a total of 45 years until his retirement in 1993. Early in this employment, he participated in field test work as an engineer on the Snark missile project (first intercontinental missile) at Holloman Air Force Base, in Alamogordo, N.M., and the Long Range Proving Ground at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Tom retired from Northrop after 30 years and formed his own electronics consulting company, of which he was president. A few months later he was recalled to Northrop as a consultant on the B-2 bomber program.
Among personal honors, Tom received commendations from Werner Van Braun for activities in the field of guided missiles and from the CIA for top secret work in deciphering coded Russian missile data.
Some of the highlights in his life included meeting Gen. Jimmy Doolittle; discussing space programs with Carl Sagan; a business meeting with Gen. Omar Bradley; and a personal chat with Charles Lindberg.
Tom was very active in youth groups as a manager in Little League baseball and president of the Rolling Hills, Calif. Pop Warner Football Association. He was an avid golfer and longtime member of the Whitefish Lake Golf Club, and boasted two hole-in-ones on that course.
Other hobbies included competitive chess, jazz clarinet, duplicate tournament bridge, flying, tennis, table tennis and amateur radio. In addition to his pilot's license, he also held a first class radiotelephone commercial license.
Tom was preceded in death by his daughters, Sherra McDermid and Robin Horgan, and by his wife, Peggy, of Whitefish.
He is survived by his daughter, Deborah, in Manhattan Beach, Calif.; three sons, Thomas R. III, in Kalispell, Timothy Ray, in Whitefish, and Theodore Randy, in Morgan, Utah.
At the request of the deceased, no services will be held.