26 DEC 11

Now, it can be told...

My step-father, Don Vermilye, was an engineer.
He was schooled at Princeton.
When he married my mother, they both worked
for RCA Camden (NJ) on various programs for
NASA. Don's engineering team developed the
ranging RADARs used on the Lunar Module.
When he was laid off from RCA, in the
post-Apollo world, he worked as a consultant
for a time until he was approached by Perkin-Elmer.
That's how he and my mother ended up in Connecticut.
While he was with Perkin-Elmer, the work he did
was highly classified.
He never spoke of it.
He never told my mother a thing...
even though she also held a TS clearance.
(No "need to know")

Now, it can be told.
Fox News article on the Perkin-Elmer Danbury, CT facility.
                   ( Click image to enlarge )
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j33/snuffyny/wwwfoxnewscom-us-2011-12-26-decades-later-cold-war-secret-is-revealed-.png



Christmas 1972, Haddon Hts, NJ - My mother and step-father, Don Vermilye. After Christmas dinner.

                         ca. 1983, Bethel, CT - My mother, me, Don w/their dog, Chris, in front yard

(This is the last photo taken of Don. He was diagnosed with lung cancer not long after this was taken. He fought the good fight for three years... lost in '87.)


-Fini

PS:
Perkin-Elmer declared bankruptcy. The Danbury building was sold to B.F. Goodrich.
The facility was still making precision mirrors for the space program.
My brother worked there as a lens grinder until he was laid off in '99 (?).


A posting on Don and Mom's RCA days
http://jmawelsh.blogspot.com/2011/07/20-jul-09.html