William Francis Edson Jr.

William Francis Edson Jr. died on January 27, 2019 at the age of 86. He is survived by his wife Rosemary, (Penny), daughter Gail Holmes, husband Bob, daughter Hannah, daughter Julie, husband Neal, daughters Kaitlynne and Courtney, son Mark Edson, wife Karie, son Colby, wife Chloe, children Naomi, and Levi, and daughters Sarah and Allison, sister Catherine Sankus, husband Ronald, sister Mary Stevens, sister Nancy Cunniff, husband Bernie.

Bill was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, athlete, veteran, space pioneer, and a leader in all that he did. He was born in Brockton, MA and grew up in North Abington, MA. He attended Colby College in Waterville, ME, where he met Penny. He served in the U.S.Marines during the Korean War. He received a BSEE degree from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. He started his career at the Draper Lab at M.I.T.in Cambridge, MA., became interested in the Manned Space Program and was later hired by North American Aviation/Rockwell in California. He became manager of Apollo Test Operations at the Kennedy Space Center and later Manager/Director of Engineering on the Space Shuttle Program.

He joined Lockheed, and was Director of Engineering and Ground Operations responsible for building a launch team for the Space Shuttle at VAFB. Following the Challenger accident and the decision not to launch from VAFB, Lockheed sent him back to the KSC in Florida where he became Vice President/Director of Return To Flight of the Space Shuttle. Prior to his retirement in 1996, he returned to California to become Associate Program Manager of Space Station Electrical Power Systems at Rocketdyne. After his retirement, he continued consulting for several years.

In his retirement, he enjoyed golf at Wood Ranch, coaching boys community basketball in Newbury Park, coaching girls softball at La Reina and tending to his rose garden, and fruit trees. He and Penny also enjoyed traveling to Alaska, the British Isles, the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and Russia. His favorite times were spent with his family especially our children and grandchildren. We will miss him.