Henry Clay Johnson Jr., 85, aerospace engineer
Henry Clay Johnson Jr., 85, formerly of Malvern, an engineer who helped develop early communications satellite technology at General Electric, died Friday, Jan. 6.
Henry Clay Johnson Jr., 85, formerly of Malvern, an engineer who helped develop early communications satellite technology at General Electric, died Friday, Jan. 6.
Mr. Johnson died from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Hershey's Mill in East Goshen Township.
An aerospace engineer, Mr. Johnson was part of a team at General Electric Space Center in Valley Forge in October 1962 that worked on one of the early spy satellites.
Using the team's technology, U.S. intelligence officials hoped to snap pictures from a satellite to prove the presence of Soviet missile installations in Cuba just before the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Thick cloud cover and unclear image resolution prevented the satellite from getting that proof - a U-2 plane took the definitive pictures - but the effort showed the promise of early satellite imagery intelligence, wrote geospacial intelligence expert Joseph W. Caddell Jr. in a February 2015 article.
In the two weeks after Oct. 14, 1962, the Kennedy administration placed a naval blockade around Cuba and threatened to invade the nation if the Soviets did not remove the missiles. The Russians backed down.
For their part in the incident, Mr. Johnson and his team of systems engineers received a thank-you letter from President John F. Kennedy.
Mr. Johnson had agreed with the federal government not to discuss the event until the papers were declassified, or 50 years had gone by. When the agreement lapsed and his children learned of their father's role in history, they were shocked.
During the Cold War, his wife, Irene McDonald Johnson, never knew where GE was sending Mr. Johnson. He packed one suitcase for cold weather, another for hot weather.
His early design work helped pave the way for today's Global Positioning System. Mr. Johnson loved to tell people how his satellite design enabled them to have mini-GPS systems in their pockets. "That cellphone is a satellite receiver, you know," he told listeners.
In the 1970s, Mr. Johnson went to Japan to manage projects involving the Toshiba Corp. and GE.
"We entertained many dignitaries from the Toshiba Corporation at our dinner table," said daughter Kathryn Johnson Barrett.
Mr. Johnson retired in 2001.
Born in Hazard, Ky., to Henry Clay Johnson Sr. and Kathryn Stickley, Mr. Johnson was reared in Roanoke, Va., where he graduated from Patrick Henry High School at age 15. He enrolled in Berea College in Berea, Ky. When he was old enough to enroll in Naval ROTC, he transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in physics.
Mr. Johnson also excelled at saltwater fishing. Both he and his wife held more than two dozen world records. They were active in the International Game Fish Association.
Founder and president of the Tri-State Custom Rod Club, he was known in the Philadelphia area for teaching the art of custom rod building. He also wrote on the subject.
Mr. Johnson and his wife traveled widely, their destinations ranging from Alaska to New Zealand. He approached traveling with excruciating precision. "When I [recently] came across the list he made for every trip, I thought, 'That's my Dad,' " Barrett said.
Besides his daughter and wife of 63 years, he is survived by children Susan Stickley Johnson, Henry Clay "Hank" Johnson III, and Margaret Johnson Jamborsky; six grandchildren; two brothers; and many nieces and nephews. Another brother died earlier.
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at Willistown Friends Meeting, 7069 Goshen Rd., Newtown Square. Burial is private.
Donations may be made to Project Healing Waters via projecthealingwaters.org. The group is dedicated to helping disabled veterans through fishing.
610-313-8102