In Memoriam- Philco and Ford Aerospace

No longer with us . . .

If you have recollections or personal remembrances please send them in so they can be posted here.

Virginian Pilot Oct 7, 2007

VIRGINIA BEACH - Arthur W. Westmont passed away Oct. 4, 2007, in Sentara Bayside Hospital. He was 84 years old. He was a veteran of both World War II, serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, and the Korean War, serving aboard the USS Tortuga LST, among others. All his service was in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

Mr. Westmont was an amateur radio enthusiast since 1941, when he received his Federal Communications License with the call of W6TWT. He had been a member and past president of the Virginia DX Century Club. His most recent call was W4EEU.

Mr. Westmont was also an auto enthusiast on specialty automobiles and served as a member and past president of the Tidewater Corvair Club.

Mr. Westmont retired from Ford Aerospace Corp. in 1989 after serving for 37 years in field of electronics.

He is survived by his wife Laurel; a son, Robert; two grandchildren, Samuel and Elizabeth. He is also survived by his sister, Theo Wells from Washington state.

The funeral will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home, 1457 Independence Blvd., Virginia Beach, VA 23455. A reception will follow immediately afterward until 7 p.m. at the Westmont residence, 4717 Little John Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Samaritan House, P.O. Box 2400 No. 226, Virginia Beach, VA 23450. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.hollomon-brown.com.

I have sent you Art Westmont's Obituary from our newspaper's archives. But what it doesn't say is that Art was a Techrep and manager for Philco for all those 37 years.

I think he Started out as a Techrep at Newport RI at the Navy's base there with Don Schwartz, then came to Norfolk and ran Philco's operation down here for many years.

He never went overseas for Philco to my knowledge, but ran the Navy's MOTU (Mobile Technical Units program) for Philco, as well as some (US and foreign) Navy related work from Norfolk (overhaul / restoration, installation, O&M)

I had the privilege of working for Art in '69 and '75 - '79.

Art's widow Laurel passed away May 14, 08.

Thanks for asking. Have a Happy New Year.

Paul Buckwalter