Tech Topics - Summer 2008 - (Page 37) Burdell&Friends employed by General Electric in Houston as an engineer on the Apollo program from 1969 to 1970. He served in the Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946 and completed 28 combat missions. He was recalled in 1950 and retired from Patrick Air Force Base in 1969. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Force Commendation Medal. A member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity, he also was a member of the 92nd USAAF/USAF Memorial Association, 364th Fighter Group Association, Selman Field Historical Association and Retired Officers Association. Robert W. Dees, MS CE 50, of Torrance, Calif., on Jan. 26. He retired from the Air Force in 1967 and joined TRW’s Model 35 program. A decorated World War II combat pilot, Lt. Col. Dees completed 31 missions over Germany, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. He later served in the Korean War. He also was program manager of the Air Force’s Titan Missile Program and an Eagle Scout. John Thomas Dent, IE 51, of Macon, Ga., on April 3. A fighter pilot in the Army Air Corps, Mr. Dent retired from Conditioned Air. He was a founding member of the Macon Civic Club and a Boy Scouts leader. Thomas W. Ellis, ME 50, of St. Petersburg, Fla., on Feb. 14. He began an engineering career that took him to many locations between Florida and Michigan with Florida Power and Light. An avid sailor, Mr. Ellis participated in many races and after retiring cruised the coasts of Florida and the Bahamas. He served in the Army in France during World War II. Daniel William Gates, MS CerE 51, MS IE 53, of Huntsville, Ala., on Aug. 22. A retired NASA ceramic engineer, Mr. Gates helped develop a thermal control coating, S13GLO, that was used on the moon landing and is still used today for thermal protection of personnel and vehicles from solar radiation in space. His team received a joint patent for the coating in 1971. Following graduation, he was employed by the Engineering Experiment Station at Georgia Tech and provided technical assistance to Georgia’s kaolin industries. He also was instrumental in developing a ceramic engineering research facility at EES. He then joined Clemson University, where he taught ceramic engineering and helped expand the research facilities. Robert Franklin “Bob” Gilliland, IM 55, of Jacksonville, Fla., on April 1. Mr. Gilliland’s career took him to cities throughout the Southeast, but he always considered Rome, Ga., home. He played football at Boys High of Rome and later at Georgia Tech, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi. Sig Guthman, IE 51, of Atlanta, on Jan. 28. Mr. Guthman had a 37-year career with the Atlantic Envelope Co., founded by his family. He retired in 1989 after serving 20 years as the company’s president. He played the trombone as a boy and sang in the Firehouse Brigade barbershop quartet and with the Temple Singers as an adult. He also spent 16 years as editor of the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s volunteer newsletter, “Digging In,” and received the garden’s 2003 Lifetime Volunteer Award. During the Korean War, he served in the Navy as a supply officer on an aircraft carrier. A member of Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity at Tech, he served on the Ferst Center for the Arts board as an alumnus. Joel Thomas Haley II, ME 50, of Cordele, Ga., on Feb. 2. Mr. Haley owned a car dealership in Cordele for many years and at the time of his death was owner of Albany Lincoln Mercury. His studies at Georgia Tech were interrupted by a year of service in the Army Air Corps. Following graduation, he moved to Cordele to manage his family’s Coca-Cola bottling plant. A Boy Scout in his youth, Mr. Haley served as a Scoutmaster and earned the Silver Beaver Award. Frank Ervine “Dusty” Hankinson III, IM 50, of Columbus, Miss., on Feb. 28. Mr. Hankinson retired from the Mississippi State Department of Agriculture as an inspector in 1990. He was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons Lodge 5, the Hockey Coach Greg Stathis Showed Courage W hen health problems hampered Greg Stathis’ abilities as a hockey player, he stepped off the ice to coach the sport. In his 17-year career as head coach of the Georgia Tech ice hockey club, Mr. Stathis led the team to 348 wins and was the only coach to have appeared in all 10 Memorial Health Hockey Classics in Savannah, Ga. Mr. Stathis, 48, of Woodstock, Ga., died March 17 of complications from his second kidney transplant. He was buried in his Yellow Jackets pullover. Born with a urinary tract blockage that was misdiagnosed, Mr. Stathis battled health problems his entire life. At the age of 26, he received a kidney transplant from his mother. He underwent surgery for a second time last year, receiving a kidney from his brother. He suffered two heart attacks in 2005. “Greg was the bravest man I have ever known who fought one medical issue after another with tremendous courage while never complaining,” said Sarge Day, assistant coach and business manager of the Georgia Tech team. Mr. Stathis founded the first Southern regional hockey conference and in 1999 brought Tech into the American Collegiate Hockey Association. Under his leadership, the Tech team skated to a second-place finish and two third-place finishes at the nationals and to several Southeast division championships. In January, the Georgia Tech ice hockey club defeated Georgia 3-2 to complete a three-game sweep of the series for the first time since the 2001-02 season. In his last game, Mr. Stathis coached the Jackets to a 3-2 victory over Vanderbilt University. He is the only coach to have averaged 20 wins per season in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. A New York native, Mr. Stathis was offered a junior varsity coaching job with the Staten Island Ice Hockey Association Firebirds when he was still in high school. He coached the team to a 16-1-1 record and a junior varsity championship the first year. He then attended Wagner College, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Mr. Stathis served 10 years as the head hockey coach and a history and art teacher at St. Peter’s High School in Staten Island. While there, his team won eight championships in the New York City High School Hockey Catholic League. Mr. Stathis and his brother owned and ran Hockey Time USA, the largest hockey pro shop in the Southeast. While coaching an in-line hockey league at the Hockey Time rink in Woodstock, Mr. Stathis often offered “scholarships” to youngsters whose parents could not afford to pay the league’s fee, paying for their dues out of his own pocket. Columbus Chapter 66 of the Order of the Eastern Star and York Rites. He received a Purple Heart for his service in the Army during World War II. Edmond Franklin “Frank” Hinds Jr., ME 56, of Lakeway, Texas, on Jan. 25. Mr. Hinds worked for the Exxon Corp. in Baton Rouge, La., Houston and Baytown, Texas, retiring after 36 years. In 1993, he was elected to the Baytown City Council, serving as a member and a mayor pro tem for seven years. During retirement, he served on the Lakeway Parks and Recreation Board, chaired the ethics committee and was a member of the Zoning and Planning Commission. An Eagle Scout, he served in the Air Force during the Korean War. Edward Lee Holcomb, Cls 50, of Fort Pierce, Fla., on March 28. He retired as the owner and operator of Tabor Motor Co. in 1989. A World War II veteran, Mr. Holcomb served in the Navy in the Pacific theater before attending Tech. Thomas Sidney “Sid” Johnston, IM 53, MS IM 72, of Athens, Ala., on March 15. Mr. Johnston completed his aeronautical career supporting the space shuttle solid-rocket booster program. He worked for more than 20 years at the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, working on the development of the Saturn rocket and Apollo lunar landing programs. A member of the Athens City Board of Education for 10 years, he was instrumental in building the Athens High School theater and football stadium and creating the school’s wrestling and ROTC programs, which offered scholarships to area boys and girls. He later served a term as chairman of the Limestone County Commission, consolidating the county’s water system and computerizing the county’s courthouse. Eugene Lashley Jr., IE 50, of Jacksonville, Fla., on March 13. Mr. Lashley retired as a project manager for the Anheuser-Busch Brewery projects in Jacksonville. He previously had worked with such companies as W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractors, the Tompkins-Beckwith Corp. and the Rowland Tompkins Corp. His studies at Tech were interrupted by World War II, during which he served at the Las Vegas Army Air Field, often assisting in the arrival and departure of such stars as TECHTOPICS | SUMMER 2008
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