James Ellis Bodmer Jr.

James Ellis Bodmer, Jr., age 50, son of James E. Bodmer, Sr. and Janice Easley Bodmer, died Saturday, March 31, 2012 on ROI-Namur Atoll in the South Pacific. He was born on November 23, 1961 in Abington, PA and baptized in League City, TX United Methodist Church. He went to James H. Ross Elementary School, Webster Intermediate School and graduated from Clear Creek High School where he played the tuba in the marching band. James joined the US Marine Corp soon after and he graduated with top honors in his class from the USMC Radar Technician School in Memphis, TN.

After James was honorably discharged, he attended the University of Arizona while working as a telemetry technician for the US Army. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering with Honors and his Masters of Science Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa. He returned to working for the US Army as a Radar Hardware Engineer with Kwajalein Range Service at Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. James was the KRS Lead Engineer on the software development efforts for the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site Distributed Operation (RDO) Sensors Project (RSP) and also for the Environmental Monitoring System (EMS) for the Ronald Reagan Test Site (RTS) Optics Modernization Program. These projects enabled remote monitoring and control of the radar and optics sensors and provided local and remote operators and maintainers with enhanced situational awareness of the sensor equipment. He worked closely with MIT Lincoln Laboratories to coordinate and implement this project to give all RTS radars improved reliability and enhanced troubleshooting capabilities. He was very much into computer technology and was interested in the development of Rich Internet Applications, Server Side Web applications and relational databases.

On a personal note, James participated in the Rustman Triathlon in 1989 and 1990. He was an avid SCUBA diver and photographer and was a past president of the ROI-Namur Dolphin’s Club. James also hiked the Appalachian Trail with his father every year. He was a loving son and brother, a hard working engineer, a good friend, a sincerely good person and will be missed by family, friends and all who knew and worked with him.

James is preceded in death by his mother, Janice Easley Bodmer. He is survived by his father, James Sr. and step mother, Anne Mathieson of Amherst, MA; brother, Anthony Bodmer of League City, TX; aunts, Helen Bean of Cibolo, TX and Fern McCoin of Houston, TX; uncles, Jerry Bodmer of Huntington Beach, CA and Joe Bodmer of New Caney, TX as well as many cousins.

The family will receive friends for visitation on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 from 5:00pm-8:00pm at Pat H. Foley & Company. A celebration of James’ life will be held at 9:30am on Thursday, April 12, 2012 in the chapel of Pat H. Foley & Company. Interment will follow at Houston National Cemetery, 10401 Veterans Memorial Drive, Houston, TX, 77038.