Ethan Brooks Eilertsen

Though born in Connecticut, Ethan always said he was “from Vermont”. Vermont held a special spot in his heart from the early days of family vacations spent in Corinth VT, where they later moved. In Connecticut, he earned his Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts, raised animals for 4H, and worked summers on Star Island NH, all of which helped shape the adult he became.

After a brief foray into surveying, Ethan moved across the country to study Mining Engineering at New Mexico Tech, where he thrived. He made life-long friends, including his wife-to-be Terry. A “non-traditional” career route took him from quarry blasting, to explosive metal bonding, to metal fabrication engineering, and finally to aerospace manufacturing engineering. He was so proud to work at Ball Aerospace and to have some of his work end up in space.

At home, Ethan was an accomplished guitar player, a skilled carpenter and builder, an exceptional model railroader, a train enthusiast, and a friend to all animals. He enjoyed all the work that comes with rural living, and could build or fix just about anything. There was never enough time to do everything he wanted to do.

Ethan is deeply missed by his wife of 33 years Terry Eilertsen; mother Jen Brooks-Wooding; sister Carrie Nygren (Lars Nygren) and nieces Linnea Hoglund and Julia Hoglund; sister Amy Eilertsen (Ralph Hoehn) and nephew Matthias Eilertsen; and numerous cousins, friends, and colleagues. His father Ed Eilertsen passed away last year.