Daniel Willoughby

Dan grew up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin. He started working at age 6, and in his early teens had a rifle of his own and a chain saw. In the winter, he and his mom cut pulpwood for $1 a ton. He hated farming and couldn't wait to leave. He picked the Marine Corps at a job fair, because the other services sent guys about 40, but the Marines sent a 20 year old just back from Vietnam, with a chest full of medals, surrounded by high school girls.

He spent 7 years as a complete badass in the US Marine Corps, stationed overseas in Okinawa. He was a crypto tech, which was a very coveted MOS, but he did other things that he used to talk about in his younger days if he drank too much. Of late, he would just say that he sat on his butt in the comm center. He told me that the statute of limitations hadn't run out. I always did wonder to myself how the military found a guy who was loyal as a bird dog and yet would commit crimes for his country.

He was sent to electronics school and later became an instructor. Dan wanted to be a 20 year Marine, but it was not to be. He ran a half marathon the day he was discharged from the Corps. He only finished it because a woman Marine said to him "Sgt Willoughby, are you going to let a woman beat you?". The Marine Corps was in his bones, and he lived with courage, honor and commitment his entire life.

From the Marines he went to work at Perkin Elmer, a scientific instrument manufacturer in Atlanta, GA as a service technician. Perkin Elmer was run at that time by Admiral Nimitz son. Everything was painted battleship gray. They hired mostly ex military like Dan. His boss was an Ex-CIA guy who once disappeared a secretary's car when she bitched about it being a lemon. He was a great service tech, in fact he was MY service tech when I worked as a chemist at Georgia Tech.

I was a serious amateur body builder at the time, dating guys from the gym. I decided to go outside my comfort zone, because I got tired of them looking in the mirror at themselves more often than I was. When Dan came to the lab, all the other ladies were gushing over him. He was so incredibly handsome, but to be honest, he wasn't my type. Not enough muscle tone, so outside my comfort zone. And the rest, as they say, is history.

We were married at Stone Mountain park in Atlanta 6 months after we met. My Aunt tried to talk me out of it, saying it would never last. We were married just shy of 41 years.

Shortly after we married, Dan started his own business fixing instruments, and I joined him in that business. After a few years, we sold the business and went to New Jersey for 2 years. We both worked for a French company that made inductively coupled plasmas to analyze for metals, both of our expertise.

Our company sent Dan to Columbus, and we landed here in 1991. Dan had been sick for some time. He had open heart surgery in 1998 and was never the same after. But he was able to do most things until recently. Even then, once I retired from Mettler Toledo, we spent a lot of time traveling more or less locally and visiting museums, since it was easy for him to walk around and sit if he got tired.

Heart failure ended his life, and that is not surprising, as it was a big target. He was my love, my best friend, my heart. I will miss you, my darling.

A memorial service for Daniel will be held Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Schoedinger Worthington, 6699 N High Street, Worthington, OH 43085.