John Pursley injured in an accident

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I'm saddened that our paths will not cross again on this planet.
Thank you for what you provided to this community and the memories that we can hold on to.
My condolences family to his wonderful family who shared him with us.
 
elac2az said:
I want NAR members who read this to know what almost came true for the upcoming Virtual NARCON. Pre-accident, I had secured John's enthusiastic agreement to film a walk around of the JSC Saturn-V (he oversaw the restoration of this vehicle) and present a live narration of that vehicle walk-around. Anyone who made it to NARCON 2018 in Houston (thanks James Duffy!) had the opportunity to accompany John on two walk-around tours he led of that Saturn-V. I was part of the first group and the stories he told...were simply amazing. John was SO looking forward to sharing his very special understanding of the Saturn-V with the membership. We have lost a a valued NAR member, former Trustee, devoted scale modeler, and space historian par excellence. I wish his family and loved ones my condolences on their loss.

Ed LaCroix- NAR National Events Chairman
NAR 11248
Click to expand...

Back around the summer of 2004 or 2005, me and John were at a NHRC (NASA/Houston Rocket Club) launch at JSC one Saturday and afterwards, he invited me to accompany him to the Saturn - V at Rocket Park to show me how degraded it became from the years of exposure to the elements outdoors. It was really a sad sight to see. Kept close touch with him during the progress of the restoration work on that Saturn as well as the ones in Huntsville and (I think) KSC. When he lived in northwest Houston area, we'd spend hours at his house to talk about rockets, the NAR and anything related to the space program and other stuff. He also was very helpful in fixing my desktop and laptop computers when I had issues with them. When he'd come over for these repairs, I'd take him to a nice BBQ restaurant to treat him to a dinner and we'd spend even more hours talking like crazy. I hated when he had to move to the Dallas area a few years ago, but understood it was something he had to do. His presence was sorely missed. RIP John, you were like a true brother to me.
 
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John was a good Friend of mine and will be sadly missed. I first met john when we both worked for Compaq Computers and were members of the ACE model rocket group at Compaq. John and I worked together building our large scale Mercury Redstones to take to and fly at NARAM 2000. His was made out of 1/64 inch thick plywood and had a 0.010 thick styrene skin covering it with ever single rivet and panel line on it that the original had. We spend a number of hours at JSC photographing every detail that we could.
John even incorporated a RC recovery system in it just to make sure everything worked perfectly. He modeled Gus Grissums capsule. I chose to model Langlys boiler plate capsule and built my model out of styrene. John had a perfect flight and won First Place, mine had a motor mount failure and had a spectacular crash due to no recover ejection. John spent many hours drawing up scale drawings for the Capsuke and milling masters to make molds of all the parts to be cast in Resin. He was very meticulous and his model showed it.
I remember how Happy John was when he got to job to over see the restoration of the Saturn 5 at JSC and loved hearing all about it. He got the job, because he know more about the Saturn 5 and had more blueprints drawings and documents on it than NASA had. He was a great Historian, loved the Space Program, an Awesome Modeler and a great friend. He will be missed. We have lost a great one. RIP my friend.
Dan Stuettgen.
 
I saw John at his house just a couple of weeks before his accident. While I was there, he showed me some of the amazing Saturn 1B models he was 3D printing in his resin printer. Wow.

A real loss to the rocket community.

May he rest in peace.
 
This is sad news, and a terrible loss.
I never met John, but got to know his work as an appreciative customer.

RIP, John.
 
Blast it Tom! said:
I had no idea. I took my wife to see that one a few years ago - what a real privelege it would have been to have gone with John! How did he gain such an understanding? He must've done a LOT of study!

Can't say it enough, condolences again... :(
Click to expand...

John worked on the restoration projects for the Saturn Vs in both Houston and Orlando. He spent a LOT of time crawling around the hardware, documenting serial numbers, documenting condition of the hardware, and more (I don't recall what but there were other things he did as well). He also did work on documenting one or more Saturn 1Bs for restoration. Plus he was a long time, meticulous, talented scale modeler who had a keen interest in all things Saturn.
 
thank you for posting that video it was a privilege for me to be able to sit next to John and talk with him over several days in the vendor area in 2018 at narcon and also to listen to both of his tours.

Frank

rocketaholic said:
John Pursley is one of a kind. I remember when he was the treasurer of the NASA Houston rocket club when I was 14 years old in 1981. He will never be forgotten and truly treasured. John Pursley helped preserve the Saturn V at JSC and is in the following video link:
Click to expand...
 
I wasn't going to write a post since I barely knew John. But, then I remembered something that happened while he was giving us the tour of the Saturn V in Houston during NARCON.

As the tour ended, a couple who were tourists from outside the US, not a part of our group, tried to give him a tip. He was amazingly gracious and kind as he refused the tip and thanked them for their compliments. It was a warm, human moment that I am happy to have witnessed.
 
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rocketaholic said:
John Pursley is one of a kind. I remember when he was the treasurer of the NASA Houston rocket club when I was 14 years old in 1981. He will never be forgotten and truly treasured. John Pursley helped preserve the Saturn V at JSC and is in the following video link:
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Apart from being a great and interesting video, it's good to see John "in his native element". What an incredible experience that must have been.

I only dealt with John as a customer, but I am now even more glad that I decided to build a couple of rockets with his skins, because it gave me a chance to interact with him a bit over email. I wish I had been able to meet him in real life.
 
It is very sad to hear of John's passing. I too had the privilege of serving with John on the NAR board of trustees, and seeing his great modeling work up close. I could never get close to the level of detail he put in his models. My sincere condolences to his family and many friends.
 
I'm sorry to hear he passed..
Be at peace, may his memory bring a smile to those who loved him..

Teddy
 
So sad to hear John didn't pull through. We saw each other at NARAMs for decades. He was truly Mr. Saturn V.
 
Very sorry to hear this. Sounds like a one of a kind guy gone too soon due to bad luck/timing.

All riders be safe.

Sandy.
 
Mercury9 said:
John was a good Friend of mine and will be sadly missed. I first met john when we both worked for Compaq Computers and were members of the ACE model rocket group at Compaq. John and I worked together building our large scale Mercury Redstones to take to and fly at NARAM 2000. His was made out of 1/64 inch thick plywood and had a 0.010 thick styrene skin covering it with ever single rivet and panel line on it that the original had. We spend a number of hours at JSC photographing every detail that we could.
John even incorporated a RC recovery system in it just to make sure everything worked perfectly. He modeled Gus Grissums capsule. I chose to model Langlys boiler plate capsule and built my model out of styrene. John had a perfect flight and won First Place, mine had a motor mount failure and had a spectacular crash due to no recover ejection. John spent many hours drawing up scale drawings for the Capsuke and milling masters to make molds of all the parts to be cast in Resin. He was very meticulous and his model showed it.
I remember how Happy John was when he got to job to over see the restoration of the Saturn 5 at JSC and loved hearing all about it. He got the job, because he know more about the Saturn 5 and had more blueprints drawings and documents on it than NASA had. He was a great Historian, loved the Space Program, an Awesome Modeler and a great friend. He will be missed. We have lost a great one. RIP my friend.
Dan Stuettgen.
Click to expand...

I was trying to do a good job on my Estes-Centuri Mercury Redstone and as I usually do, I grabbed as many pics from "the Google" as I could. And I was blown away by the level of detail in this larger scale build. I was just beginning as a BAR back then, so the name would have meant nothing to me... but is this John's Mercury that you spoke of? It's beautiful; I really can't imagine it being someone elses.
1-12Mercury_prelaunch15b.jpg

I mean, look at the thing! Those little wires coming from those delicate white whatever-they-ares, every rivet, a stunning level of detail, beautiful capsule, decals look like they were painted by Cici herself! What a work of art!
 
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A sad loss.

I will be remembering him when I skin my Cosmic Interceptor, I bought it from him years ago.
 
Blast it Tom! said:
I was trying to do a good job on my Estes-Centuri Mercury Redstone and as I usually do, I grabbed as many pics from "the Google" as I could. And I was blown away by the level of detail in this larger scale build. I was just beginning as a BAR back then, so the name would have meant nothing to me... but is this John's Mercury that you spoke of? It's beautiful; I really can't imagine it being someone elses.
View attachment 447152

I mean, look at the thing! Those little wires coming from those delicate white whatever-they-ares, every rivet, a stunning level of detail, beautiful capsule, decals look like they were painted by Cici herself! What a work of art!
Click to expand...
Yes, that is John Pursley's Redstone...
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...ry-redstone-naram-2002-winner-pictures.19074/

More here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200218061951/https://accur8.com/NARAM44_LibertyBell.html
 
That second link is indeed the source of my pictures. It had engine gimballing and active course control! Holy smokes, what a masterpiece, technically, structurally, and aesthetically!

I'm starting to think we need a John Pursley memorial hall. Maybe rename the scale forum or a subforum (Saturn V or manned space flight) after him...
 
Saints of God, come to his aid.
Come to meet him, Angels of the Lord.
Receive his soul and present him to God the Most High.

May Christ, who called you, take you to Himself;
may Angels lead you to Abraham’s side.

Give him eternal rest, O Lord,
and may your light shine on him forever.

All-powerful and merciful God,
we commend to you John Pursley, your servant.
In your mercy and love,
blot out the sins he has committed
through human weakness.
In this world he has died:
let him live with you forever.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
 
Antares JS said:
Saints of God, come to his aid.
Come to meet him, Angels of the Lord.
Receive his soul and present him to God the Most High.

May Christ, who called you, take you to Himself;
may Angels lead you to Abraham’s side.

Give him eternal rest, O Lord,
and may your light shine on him forever.

All-powerful and merciful God,
we commend to you John Pursley, your servant.
In your mercy and love,
blot out the sins he has committed
through human weakness.
In this world he has died:
let him live with you forever.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Click to expand...

In Christ we have that sure hope. As we morn, imagine his joy!
 
Antares JS said:
Saints of God, come to his aid.
Come to meet him, Angels of the Lord.
Receive his soul and present him to God the Most High.

May Christ, who called you, take you to Himself;
may Angels lead you to Abraham’s side.

Give him eternal rest, O Lord,
and may your light shine on him forever.

All-powerful and merciful God,
we commend to you John Pursley, your servant.
In your mercy and love,
blot out the sins he has committed
through human weakness.
In this world he has died:
let him live with you forever.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Click to expand...


Amen !

Dave F.
 
Antares JS said:
Saints of God, come to his aid.
Come to meet him, Angels of the Lord.
Receive his soul and present him to God the Most High.

May Christ, who called you, take you to Himself;
may Angels lead you to Abraham’s side.

Give him eternal rest, O Lord,
and may your light shine on him forever.

All-powerful and merciful God,
we commend to you John Pursley, your servant.
In your mercy and love,
blot out the sins he has committed
through human weakness.
In this world he has died:
let him live with you forever.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Click to expand...


Amen! Amen! AMEN!!!!!
 

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