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Wiley Virgil Conover, RIP
Obituary written by Mr. Conover's son Patrick, SHHS '67
Wiley Virgil Conover

He was born on June 14, 1921, in Minneapolis, MN. He attend University of Minnesota for one year before being accepted to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1941. He graduated in June 1944 (class of 1945 was shortened to three years due to the war). During WWII he served on the aircraft carrier Lexington in the Pacific as Navigation Officer.

He married Sally G. Godbolt of Red Bluff, California, in Bremerton, Washington, on April 16, 1945, while in port for ship repairs.

After the war, he was stationed in various places, such as Corpus Cristi, Texas, and Pensacola, FL, where he learned how to fly PBM sea/rescue planes. Brother David was born in Pensacola in February 1947.

He left the Navy in March, 1955, leaving Jacksonville, FL, and headed to Reseda, California with Sally and four young boys. He worked for TRW for a number of years, which included being transferred to Bethesda, MD in August, 1957, before moving back to California in early 1959. In 1961 he decided to work for North American Aviation, which became Rockwell International, in Anaheim. We moved to Fullerton from Reseda, where he and Sally lived until June, 1972. All of us had graduated from SHHS by then. Dad had gotten a new job with Sperry Univac and moved Virginia in Oct. 1971, Mom following in June, 1972. He left Sperry Univac to work for Logicon, and by summer 1975 was back in Orange County, living in Irvine.

He retired around 1988 to take up his passion of playing golf and traveling with Mom to places all over the world. He was active in his church, St. Andrews Presbyterian in Newport Beach. He also was active in his community homeowner's association, and participated as voting pollsters during elections.

Dad became afflicted with Alzheimer's about 11 years ago, which slowly degraded his life. My Mom took care of him at home for 7 years before it became necessary to put him in a care home. My Mom went to visit him everyday for the past four years. He always recognized her and would light up when she went to see him. She was the love of his life as he was to her.

His conditioned worsened in the last two weeks, and he died peacefully yesterday,
April 17th, at 3:12 p.m. , a day after their 63rd anniversary, with Mom, my brother Bob and his wife, at his bedside.

Funeral and memorial services are pending.

Patrick W. Conover

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Donald H. Walker on August 3, 2017 at 8:34 PM said:

Hello, Patrick.

Hello, Patrick.

I'm not sure if you will ever see this comment, but I wanted you to know that I worked for your dad both at TRW and Rockwell back in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

He was a great boss who inspired excellence and innovation. He had a great sense of humor and a cordial manner.

I spoke briefly with your mom, Sally, about 10 or 15 years ago when she was still visiting him in the nursing home. Yes, they were a dedicated couple.

Well, I'll sign off now. I just wanted to reach out across the years and let you know that your dad was an unforgettable character whom I often fondly remember.

I'retired from Harvard University about 10 years ago, but still keep in touch with some of the scientific and engineering types that I worked with back at Ramo-Wooldridge.

If you'd care to correspond, I can be reached by email at donald.h.walker@comcast.net.

Cordially,

Don Walker

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