Thomas R. Glanville, 83

Thomas R. "Tom" Glanville, 83, passed away Nov. 23, 2006, at his home in Whitefish after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Glanville was born Feb. 14, 1923, in Mason City, Iowa, where he resided until age 18. In 1941 following high school and a year of college, he and his family moved to Long Beach, Calif., where his father was employed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. There he worked at Consolidated Shipyards during the day and attended classes at Dewey Technical Institute at night.

In 1943 he entered the U.S. Army Air Force. After teaching advanced electronics for two years at Truax Field in Madison, Wis., he was assigned to "Project B," a highly classified special instruction program for all B-29 bomber radiomen. Among those he taught were the radio operators who flew the historic missions in the Enola Gay, dropping the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan.

While at Madison, Tom met and married Stella Ruth "Peggy" House of Jasper, Ala., on Jan. 24, 1945.

Following service in USAAF, Mr. Glanville continued his college education at USC and UCLA, majoring in mathematics and electrical engineering.

In 1948, Tom began a career with Northrop Aircraft of Hawthorne, Calif., which spanned a total of 45 years until his retirement in 1993. Early in this employment, he participated in field test work as an engineer on the Snark missile project (first intercontinental missile) at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, N.M., and the Long Range Proving Ground at Cape Canaveral, Fla. At the Florida facility, he supervised the installation and operation of all the telemetry ground stations from Grand Bahamas to Ascension Island.

Following field test, Tom was recalled to the home offices in California where he rose rapidly in management, and by 1956 became general supervisor of Missile and Aircraft Instrumentation, directing the efforts of over 200 engineers and technicians. During his employment as an engineer, he was responsible for many innovative electronic circuitries, including special components for the first known analog-digital computer (MADIDA) which was later purchased by the National Cash Register Co. Other notable inventions include a sensitive micro-farad capacitor measuring system, an electronic commutator for radio-telemetry systems, and the first known tube aging device for specialized D.C. amplifiers.

Mr. Glanville retired from Northrop after 30 years and formed his own Electronics Consulting Company of which he was president. A few months later he was recalled to Northrop as a consultant on the B-2 Bomber program. He remained as a consultant on this program until his retirement in 1993.

Some of the highlights in Mr. Glanville's life included: meeting General Jimmy Doolittle; discussing space programs with Carl Sagan; business meeting with General Omar Bradley, the president of Bulova; and a personal chat with Charles Lindberg. Tom and wife, Peggy, were also special invited guests at a dinner at Mike Lyman's in Hollywood with Meredith Wilson, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Frank Morgan and Fannie Brice.

Mr. Glanville was very active in youth groups, as a manager in Little League baseball; and president of the Rolling Hills, California, Pop Warner Football Association.

He was an avid golfer and long time member of the Whitefish Lake Golf Club, and boasted two holes-in-one on that course.

Other hobbies included competitive chess, jazz clarinet, duplicate tournament bridge, flying, tennis, table tennis, and amateur radio. In addition to his pilots license, he also held a first class radiotelephone commercial license, and came in second at the tournament at Lincoln Park Chess Club in Long Beach.

In tennis, Tom captained his college team which went undefeated during his tenure. In table tennis he won city and state tournaments in Iowa in both singles and doubles. He also held a Masters Card in bridge. In amateur radio he gained distinction for placing first nationally in mobile radio field day exercises in emergency communications. He was a member of a four-man rifle team which won the National High School shooting championship in 1940.

Among personal honors, Tom received a commendation from Werner Van Braun for activities in the field of guided missiles; a commendation from the CIA for top secret work in deciphering coded Russian missile data; and was listed for many years in "Who's Who in Electronics." He was also a charter member of the Cape Canaveral Pioneer Club.

Tom was preceded in death by is daughters, Sherra McDermid and Robin Horgan; and by his wife, Peggy.

He is survived by his daughter, Deborah, in Manhattan Beach, Calif.; and three sons, Thomas R. III in Kalispell, Timothy Ray in Whitefish, and by Theodore Randy in Morgan, Utah.

At the request of the deceased, no services will be held.

Arrangements and cremation are under the direction of the Austin Funeral Home in Whitefish.