Merritt Island – William (Bill) Kissenberth, 83 passed away on May 27, 2018. Bill was the son of William and Elisabeth Kissenberth and was born on March 9, 1935 in New York City. The family initially lived in Brooklyn, moved to White Plains in 1939, and settled in Amityville in 1941. He graduated from Amityville Memorial High School in January 1953 and worked briefly for Republic Aviation in Farmingdale. Bill accepted a basketball scholarship to Valparaiso University, Indiana and graduated with a degree in civil engineering on June 1, 1958. He began work with Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, California on July 31, 1958 in the Missiles and Space Division and worked on the Nike Zeus anti-ballistic missile (ABM) program in the hydraulics design department.
Bill married Suzanne Florence Schmeling, a Valparaiso graduate, on May 31, 1959 in Rockford, Illinois in St. Paul Lutheran Church which her grandfather, a contractor, built in 1906. The couple lived in Santa Monica and Malibu until Bill was transferred to Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station where he participated in the development rounds of the Nike Zeus. In 1962, they were transferred to Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands and Bill worked on the system tests of the ABM program for two years. They returned to Santa Monica in 1964 where Bill was promoted to a management position at the age of 29 in engineering on the follow-on Spartan ABM system. In 1970, they moved to Lompoc, California when Bill was assigned to the Delta launch vehicle program as manager of mechanical systems. In 1977, the family of six moved to Merritt Island, Florida where they remained. Bill became manager of mechanical ground support equipment (MGSE) design and served as project manager for the Delta II (1988) and the Delta III (1998) extensive facility modifications. Lastly, he was the lead engineer for MGSE design and modifications in support of the highly successful Orion spacecraft launched from SLC-37 in 2014 and retired in December 2015 after over 57 years in the space industry.
Bill was an active member of Bethany Lutheran Church in Lompoc and Faith Lutheran Church in Merritt Island where he served 5 terms as president of the congregation as well as leading the design and implementation of all major construction projects including the new sanctuary in 1989. He also served as president of the South Merritt Estates (homeowners) Association (4 terms) and held numerous leadership positions in Merritt Island high school football, basketball, and baseball support groups.
Bill and Sue had four children: Darren (Kelly) (1965), Michael (Karen) (1966), Jana (Jeffrey) Zastawney (1968) and Andrew (Charisse) (1969) and twelve grandchildren. Bill was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Edith Ann von Schmidt-Pauli in 2012. Bill was very loyal, organized, sentimental to a fault, an above average writer and an accomplished wood-worker. He loved his work, his wife of 59 years as of May 31, 2018 and his wonderfully successful children and their outstanding families. He loved being active and accomplishing meaningful things. Most of all, he loved the Lord who blessed him every day of his life.
A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at Faith Lutheran Church in Merritt Island on June 1, 2018 at noon.
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