Eugene C Cowart

Eugene C Cowart

1923 - 2021

Our Dad, ‘Pop’, Grampa, Great Grampa, Great Great Grampa, Uncle and Great Uncle to our extended family, the last of his siblings and youngest of his parent’s progeny of 2 sisters and 5 brothers, known as ‘Gene’ to friends and past colleagues, has passed away, aged 98, on November 4.

Born in Texas in 1923, he now joins his wife, Virginia, and our sister, Suzanne Denhardt, ‘Under the wide and starry sky’. Dad has sadly left us, his daughters, Dorothy Davis, Jeanne Webb, and Mary Marles. Our Dad and Mom were long-time residents of Lancaster, CA before taking up abode in Las Vegas where they enjoyed their dotage.

Dad was always one to have a memory, a story, or a joke to tell you about his travels, his tinkering in the garage, his time as a certified mechanic on the Pratt & Whitney J58 engine of the iconic SR71 ‘Blackbird’ at USAF Plant42 in Palmdale, CA, his working on the Atlas rockets at Vandenberg AFB and on the rocket test site  at Edwards AFB, and his remembrances of being a Tech Sargent in the Army Air Corp posted on Corsica whilst serving during WWII taking on the roles and challenges as being a B-25 radio operator, impromptu bombardier and the occasional Italian gelato ‘runner’, and other memories too many to mention. He would usually begin his telling’s with “Did I ever tell you the story about…”.

Dad was of the generation whose parents had to work hard to put food on the table and shoes on their feet, and through their tribulations he learned the value of working hard, a good meal, and having money in the bank. Later in life, he would say about himself, “Not bad for a grease monkey!”