John Frederick Shea, 84, of Woodbridge, Virginia, passed away at his home, Monday, September 14th, 2015.
A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, October 3rd at Miller Funeral Home and Crematory, 3200 Golansky Boulevard, Woodbridge, Virginia 22192. Father Edwin Perez of St Elizabeth Ann Seton will officiate.
John was born in 1931 in Oxford, NY to John Gerald and Charlotte Vada (Tracy) Shea. He graduated from Iona Prep, New Rochelle, NY in 1949 and from the University of Detroit with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1954.
After graduating, John was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, USAF and served at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska.
For the majority of his career, John worked as a mechanical engineer with Martin Marietta. During this period, John worked on several of the space missions. Notably, he worked on the Skylab project where he was a diver in the neutral buoyancy lab.
He worked closely with the astronauts on the ergonomic design and testing of the Skylab operations and living modules. John had a passion for aviation and he enjoyed building and flying model airplanes.
Other personal interests also included sailing, skiing, running and working out with friends. He also enjoyed the company of many cats throughout his life. John will be deeply missed by his wife, Carol, of 54 years, daughter, Vada Dreisbach (Frank) of Longmont CO, and sons, John (Mary) of LaGrange, KY and Michael (DeAnne) of Prior Lake, MN along with eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild, one brother-in-law, three nieces and five nephews. John was preceded in his death by parents John Gerald and Charlotte Vada Shea and brother Gerald C. Shea.
