August 30. 1916, Cleveland, Ohio
Son of Elliott E. Stearns, Cleveland and Sarah (nee Hoyt), Winnetka, Illinois
Yale University, 1938, B. S. Physics, Phi Beta Kappa
Case/Western Reserve University, 1939, M. S. Physics, Sigma Xi
Married Virginia Alworth of Jacksonville, Florida on June 17, 1941.
Three sons: Hoyt Jr. of Phoenix AZ; Frederick, San Diego; Elliott III,
Fulton MO. Three granddaughters- Catherine, Helen, and Anna Stearns
(Elliott's daughters).
Joined the Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL), Washington, D. C. as a civilian scientist in 1940.
Worked on various classified underwater ordance projects. Had a one-year tour of duty at Hiwassee Dam,
North Carolina, where the TV A dam had created a large, deep lake, which provided ideal for testing
antisubmarine weapons. A cross section of a submarine hull was built at the local TV A metal-working
facility and lowered into the lake with the dam's gantry crane. We worked from a specially constructed
raft in the middle of the lake. Various types of depth charges were tested against the submarine mock-up
and date were optically analyzed.
Amusing aside- Toward the end of the war, the Navy decided in their infinite wisdom, that the technical staff
at NOL should be inducted into regular Navy. Consequently, we were bussed from Washington to Baltimore one
day, where we were handed our "honorable discharge" certificates. The world's shortest Naval career- 3 hours.
After the war, I signed on with the Brush Development Co., Cleveland, where I worked in technical sales for electronic
instrumentation. Projects included instrumentation for monitoring heart catheterization and ultrasound heart monitoring.
The first magnetic tape recorders were developed there in the late forties.
In 1950, we moved to Chappaqua, N. Y. to work for General Precision Laboratories, which developed various cameras
and other products for the fledging commercial TV industry.
In 1952, we moved to the San Francisco Bay area for a position in technical sales with Berkeley Scientific, a developer
of electronic instruments. Later, we moved to Arcadia, CA in the L. A. area, where I worked for a number of major
aerospace companies in technical marketing of government weapons contracts.
Moved to San Diego in 1972 and tried a new field- technical writing with Computer Sciences Corp and later with Megatek
Corp., a computer graphics company. Retired in 1992.
Virginia is a lifelong Episcopalian. We were married at The Church of the Good Shepherd, Jacksonville FL. When in the
L. A. area, we attended St. Edmunds Church, San Marino, where the Rev. Wm. Aaron Driver was rector. I was baptized
and confirmed at St. Edmunds.
When we moved to San Diego, we attended St. Andrews, Encinitas before transferring to St. James in 1977.
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