John McCandish Ross |
| Posted 2017-01-28 by Sharla |
| The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, Arizona Wednesday, January 25, 2017 John McCandish Ross passed away peacefully surrounded by his family Dec. 15, 2016, four days shy of his 94th birthday. He was born Dec. 19, 1922, in Newport News, Va., to Taylor William and Rose Saunders Ross. The family moved to Madison, Ind., when he was a small child and his father took over the family business converting spokes and rims for wagons into porch furniture. As a high school sophomore, John transferred to Columbia Military Academy in Columbia, Tenn., where he graduated and pursued his goals in engineering at Cornell University until WWII began. He enlisted in the US Army Signal Corp and was assigned to the South Pacific where he spent 20 months at various island locations until the war ended. John then returned to Cornell where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Knowing that he needed a higher degree, he applied and was accepted to Stanford University, earned a master’s degree in 1953 and spent another year there at the Stanford Electronics Lab. John moved to Phoenix in 1955 to work for Motorola and soon met the love of his life, Donnie Mae Measday. They were married April 6, 1957. John worked at Motorola for nine years, and then at Goodyear Aerospace in Litchfield Park until his retirement in 1986. Throughout his engineering career, John stayed in the Army Reserves where he earned his commission and retired as a colonel. John lived an active life in the Phoenix area, in service to the Episcopal Church, as chairman of IEEE and a board member of both the Stanford and Cornell Clubs of Phoenix. John and Donnie moved to Wickenburg in 1994 after Donnie retired from Kiva Elementary School in the Scottsdale School District, and they both continued their involvement in the Episcopal Church and the Desert Caballeros Western Museum. John also served on several boards at Pinewood Country Club in Munds Park where they have a summer home. John is survived by his wife of 59 years, Donnie Measday Ross of Wickenburg; and their two children Taylor (Tamera) Ross and Pamela (Monty) Plew of Kingman; three grandchildren Sommer (Tom) Palmer of Camp Verde, Bryson (Suzy) Ross of Carbondale, Colo., Jessica Taylor Plew of Kingman; and one great-granddaughter, Emma Taylor Palmer of Camp Verde. He was preceded in death by his daughter Wendy Frances Ross and his granddaughter Pamela Nash Plew. A Memorial service will be held at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 10:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in John’s honor to Hospice of the Valley. |
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