Paul (Pete) Laverne High, Jr. 83 of Haymarket, Va. passed away on 29 June 2019 after a brief illness. He was the eldest son of Paul and Elsie High. He is survived by his wife of almost 59 years, Shirley Peterson High, his 6 children, Kim High Saxton (David), Stacy High-Brinkley (Karen), Paul L. High, III (Julia), Todd High (Maria), Daniel High (Christine) and Julie High Farmerie (John), and 15 grandchildren along with two sisters, Darrell High Wittkamp (Bernard) and Judy High Boyer (Fred).
Paul, also known as “Pete”, was born in Annapolis Maryland in 1935. His father, Rear Admiral Paul L. High, was a Naval Officer and decorated Destroyer Skipper in World War II, earning the coveted Navy Cross Award for his efforts commanding the USS Bryant in the Battle of Surigao Straits, Philippine Islands, in October 1944.
Pete attended the College of William & Mary where he was elected President of his Freshman Class. He graduated in May 1958 with a B.S in mathematics. He applied and was selected for the U.S. Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and then was commissioned as an Ensign on 30 Oct 1958. Upon graduation he was given temporary duty at the Pentagon until November 21 when he was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone for active duty as an intelligence officer with the 15th Naval District. In February of 1960 he met Shirley and on the first of March of that year, he proposed. They were married on 17 September 1960 in Margarita, Canal Zone.
Lt. High reported for duty at the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) on Tuesday 1 November 1960. Since he had experience in computer programming, he was assigned to work as the ONI Automation officer under Captain Don Higgins. He was placed in charge of the Intelligence Files and immediately began the initial effort to automate the files. He developed an indexing system and procured automation equipment to support this effort. Lt. High began a program to microfilm all ONI Information Reports and developed a punched card index for rapid recovery of reports based upon content and date of information. During this period, the Secretary of Defense had approved the creation of a Defense Intelligence Agency. Lt. High was a member of the transition staff for DIA. Certain Intelligence elements of the Army, Navy and Air Force were transferred to DIA. Upon completion of his four-year Navy obligation, he joined DIA as a GS-12 Computer Systems Analyst. This began his 32- year career with DIA. There he was the project manager tasked to internet computers at CIA, NSA and DIA. This effort resulted in the establishment of the Community On-line Intelligence system (COINS). From 1970 to 1978 he served as the program manager for the Naval Intelligence Assets of the worldwide Intelligence Data Handling System (IDHS). In May of 1974 the Deputy Director of DIA (Lt. Gen Eugene Tighe, USAF) established a Systems Reorganization Group to recommend changes to the DIA Information Systems organization. Mr. High was selected to this group along with Mr. Harry Banford, Chairman, and Mr. Thomas Haug. The group’s recommendations were approved and the first major reorganization of DIA Information Systems was completed in the fall. Before General Tighe left DIA he promoted Mr. High and Mr. Haug to GS-15 and, along with Harry Banford they were presented the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal by General Tighe. Pete retired from the DIA after 32 years in 1995. He went on to work for Scitor until his retirement in October of 2004.
A Mass will be held at Holy Trinity Catholic Church 8213 Litton Hall Road, Gainesville, VA 20155 on 12 July 2019 at 1030 am.
Burial will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, at a later date.
Paul L. High Jr
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