George Gassaway’s cancer thoughts & prayers

[tfish]

Saw this on FB...Tony

 

[tfish]

Saw this on FB...Tony

 

[rocket_troy]

That was frighteningly swift. RIP George.

TP

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Oh, no... may he rest in peace, and rise in glory.

 

[Ez2cDave]

High school photo's of George ( 1973, 1974, 1975 )

R.I.P. , George !

Dave F.

 

[MaxQ]

Truly an inspiration to the scale modelers in our hobby and a great competitor.
Was fortunate enough to have met him and watched him fly his large radio controlled upscale of the Estes Spaceplane rocket glider.

His projects and helpful advice which he shared will be missed.

 

[Ez2cDave]

Please don't take this the "wrong way" . . .

Did anyone preserve George's computer(s), physical files, and Scale Data ?

It would be a tremendous tragedy for that wealth of information to be "lost to the ages".

Is there a link to an obituary ? I have been unable to find anything.

R.I.P. , George !

Dave F.

 

[Rktman]

This is such devastating news. Rocketry has lost a true legend, teacher, innovator, and pioneer; certainly a tragic loss of an irreplaceable asset and contributor to the sport.

RIP George, fly high, and may you know only peace and joy on your next journey.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

That went unbelievably fast. He announced he was sick on May 10 and was gone 11 days later. I don’t know whether that’s merciful or tragic. Rest In Peace, George.

 

[BEC]

Please don't take this the "wrong way" . . .

Did anyone preserve George's computer(s), physical files, and Scale Data ?

It would be a tremendous tragedy for that wealth of information to be "lost to the ages".

He posted what he planned to do on YORF, but that was so fast, I don’t know if he was able to follow through.

 

[rocketgeek101]

Wow, that was very quick. Hopefully that means it was painless too. It's gonna be strange not having his presence around this corner of the web anymore.

RIP George.

 

[Ez2cDave]

He posted what he planned to do on YORF, but that was so fast, I don’t know if he was able to follow through.

I don't think George has any living relatives . . . I wonder if anyone has access to his belongings / residence ?
Ed LaCroix & Earl Cagle have been doing a lot of things. One of them may be the Executor / Trustee for George's estate.

 

[Marc_G]

I'm shocked at the swiftness of this all. RIP George!

 

[MaxQ]

What George posted earlier here about his projects and website:

So, some info on what disposition plans I have for my stuff, models, kits, & move.

-My 1988 Sunguidance model will someday be in the Model Rocketry Museum at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
-My 1999 NARAM contest Space Shuttle will join it, presuming it is not damaged when I fly it for the US Team in S7 at the FAI World Space Modeling Championships in Austin, TX in early July.

-My 1/16 Lunar Module Quadcopter will be offered to AMA's Model Aircraft Museum. If they do not agree to display it, I may auction it.

My WEBSITE will be donated to the NAR and remain up after I'm gone.


Some of the links in Site History are broken, but there are still a lot of great project links:
http://georgesrockets.com/GRP/AOL/GCGassaway/gcghome.htm

 

[Ez2cDave]

What George posted earlier here about his projects and website:

So, some info on what disposition plans I have for my stuff, models, kits, & move.

-My 1988 Sunguidance model will someday be in the Model Rocketry Museum at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
-My 1999 NARAM contest Space Shuttle will join it, presuming it is not damaged when I fly it for the US Team in S7 at the FAI World Space Modeling Championships in Austin, TX in early July.

-My 1/16 Lunar Module Quadcopter will be offered to AMA's Model Aircraft Museum. If they do not agree to display it, I may auction it.

My WEBSITE will be donated to the NAR and remain up after I'm gone.

I saw that earlier . . .

I am concerned that there might be additional data, which was NOT displayed on George's website.

Dave F.

 

[grapetang]

So sorry to hear this. Rest in peace, George. Ad astra - may your soul soar among the stars.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I saw that earlier . . .

I am concerned that there might be additional data, which was NOT displayed on George's website.

Dave F.

It sounds like he at least began to make arrangements for some of his projects to be donated and the website preserved. Maybe for now, at least in this thread, it would be best to just focus on the person we lost and trust that he and the friends he mentioned are going to handle his legacy of knowledge. Hopefully that’s the case.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

George continues to be an inspiration. Next launch, I'll be flying one of his glider designs.

 

[Sandy H.]

Wow. Horrific.

I never met George, but what an inspirational person for the hobby. Pancreatic cancer is terrible and quick by the time you find out in many cases. It took my mother-in-law (who I liked, no mother-in-law jokes for sure) in less than 6 months. We miss her and were privileged she made it to our wedding.

Sorry I'm just now learning this, but the events occurred when I was offline. Not that there was anything to do, but this is a big loss to the hobby and I'm saddened for sure that George didn't get his last few goals in.

George: Thank you for what you did for this hobby. There is no question you moved an important ball forward for decades. I hope, if we met, we would have been fast friends, but since that never happened, simply God Speed my friend.

Sandy.

 

[cwbullet]

RIP George.

 

[Ez2cDave]

It sounds like he at least began to make arrangements for some of his projects to be donated and the website preserved. Maybe for now, at least in this thread, it would be best to just focus on the person we lost and trust that he and the friends he mentioned are going to handle his legacy of knowledge. Hopefully that’s the case.

Agreed . . .

 

[Night Tripper]

Did anyone find an obituary for George?

 

[Ez2cDave]

Did anyone find an obituary for George?

No, I have been searching, with no luck.

Some pics of George ( mostly photos I took at NARAM-50, in 2008, helping Alyssa Stenberg ) . . . She flew her Apogee SATURN-1B, off my tripod with a 5ft SS 1/4" rod ( the NARAM rods were SHORT & RUSTY ) . . . George loved that it was elevated, which helped him get some "money shots" ( one of the few times we ever agreed on anything - Sad ).

The motor is the SATURN-1B is an AEROTECH F50-4 . . .

Dave F.


High School pics of George ( Homewood High School, Homewood, AL )

 

[GuyNoir]

Nothing shows up at legacy.com

 

[kjhambrick]

I am so sorry to hear about George's passing.

I send my thoughts and prayers for George and his family.

This is a tremendous loss to our hobby and to the entire world and to future generations.

-- kjh

 

[Ez2cDave]

Nothing shows up at legacy.com

Can it be true that George Gassaway may simply "fade into the ether", without even a simple obituary ? How sad !

 

[Peartree]

Can it be true that George Gassaway may simply "fade into the ether", without even a simple obituary ? How sad !

Newspapers are charging a crap ton of money to print these so some families opt not to do them at all even if the funeral home does them online for less.

 

[ksaves2]

Newspapers are charging a crap ton of money to print these so some families opt not to do them at all even if the funeral home does them online for less.

That's true. When my wife died 4.5 years ago it was like $800.00 total in the town paper and the next big cities' national paper.
My brother died this May 25th and my mom said the obits were $1600.00. He didn't want a wake as he thought it was gross to look at dead people in a casket. I told him way before his death that a funeral is for the survivors and friends, not the deceased. He chose a direct cremation for $6,000.00 nonetheless although he had the means to do any funeral he would have desired. Kurt

 

[Peartree]

That's true. When my wife died 4.5 years ago it was like $800.00 total in the town paper and the next big cities' national paper.
My brother died this May 25th and my mom said the obits were $1600.00. He didn't want a wake as he thought it was gross to look at dead people in a casket. I told him way before his death that a funeral is for the survivors and friends, not the deceased. He chose a direct cremation for $6,000.00 nonetheless although he had the means to do any funeral he would have desired. Kurt

More and more of our church folks bypass newspapers altogether, OR, they print an obituary that says, "See the funeral home's website for the complete obituary." But even that costs something. Since COVID, an increasing number of folks are choosing not to do a funeral either. Some don't do anything, more are just doing a graveside committal only, or a brief funeral/committal hybrid in the cemetery chapel.

 

[Ez2cDave]

As far as I know, I don't think that George had any living relatives.