George C. Dannals

May 5, 1922 - June 12, 2008

Memorial service for George C. Dannals, who passed away Thursday, June 12, 2008, will be 4 p.m. Thursday, June 19, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in DeLand with the Rev. W. Donald Lyon officiating.

Born May 5, 1922, in Altoona, PA, Mr. Dannals moved with his family to Winter Haven in January 1928. He got "sand in his shoes" in the early years and attended public schools in Winter Haven and graduated in May of 1939.

He was hired by Citrus Experiment Station in Lake Alfred at the age of 17. Mr. Dannals joined the organized Naval Reserve in the summer of 1939 and was called to active duty in July 1941. The previous summer (1940), he served as a signalman on the USS NOA out of Key West. In the regular Navy he underwent boot training at Norfolk, VA, and moved up the ladder, achieving "chief" status in late 1944 and as part of the combat air crew in Torpedo Squadron Twelve aboard the USS Saratoga. After discharge from the Navy in December 1945, George enrolled as a pre-engineering student at Stetson University.

On June 5, 1947, he was married to Cortez (Corky) Tedder. In the fall of that same year, they moved to Durham, NC, where George transferred to Duke University to complete his degree in electrical engineering. His professional career included Tennessee Valley Authority (1949-1951) as a carrier and load control electrical engineer; Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, AL, as a rocket development electrical engineer (1951-1954), one of the first Americans to work with Dr. von Braun and his group to develop and test fire the Redstone missile-the forerunner of our astronaut program; Radiation, Inc (1954-1957) as a ground station data collection engineer; founding partner of Dynatronics, Inc. (1957-1964); and marketing/communications systems specialist at Page Communications, Washington, DC (1964-1966). The remainder of his career was spent as a business and engineering consultant (1966-1985).

He was a long time member of the Episcopal Church, serving on several vestries, diocesan boards and standing committees.  His other philanthropic and volunteer involvements included: Young Life (National Board of Trustees), Habitat for Humanity, Stetson University and Duke University.

In January 1986, George made an unofficial round-the-world trip for Young Life and trhe Episcopal Church covering three continents and ten countries: Southeast Asia (Philippines, India), Africa, (Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa) and Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France).  Fortunately, he was able to set up an interview with Desmond Tutu in Johannesburg.

Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Corky; children Nancy Swindell (Jim), Ed Pratt-Dannals (Joanne), Jim (Carolyn) and Bob (Valerie).  Grandchildren include Jason and Claire Swindell, Matthew, Luke and Joshua Dannals, Christopher and Katherine Pratt-Dannals, Danielle and Kaleigh Merritt and Mary Blair Dannals.  Also surviving are his brohter Bill, niece Barbara Furlong (Bill) and grand nephews, Rob and Mike Furlong.

Memorial donations may be made to St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 319 W. Wisconsin Avenue, DeLand, FL 32720; West Volusia Young Life, P.O. Box 2477, DeLand, FL 32721 or to Hospice of Volusia/Flagler, 1250 South State Road 15A, DeLand, FL 32720.

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