Herman E. Thomason; Aug. 18, 2011
Dr. Herman E. Thomason, 85, of Madison passed away Thursday, Aug. 18.
Dr. Thomason was a veteran of the Merchant Marines, United States Army and United States Air Force. He served in World War II with the Army and the Korean conflict with the Air Force. Dr. Thomason was a recipient of the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in World War II.
He received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from UCLA and Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. He joined the Von Braun team at NASA in 1957, where he worked on Saturn V, Skylab and the Shuttle programs. He retired from NASA as Deputy Director of Science and Engineering. After his retirement from NASA, Dr. Thomason served as Executive Vice President at Intergraph. Following retirement from Intergraph, he joined the team at John Blue Realty.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Donna Jo Thomason; daughter, Christie Swanner and husband, Joey; son, Pat Thomason and wife, Sheryl; grandchildren, Ashley Houston, Melinda Thomason, Patrick Thomason, Emily Thomason, Joseph Mitchell and Joel Swanner.
Visitation was from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21 at Laughlin Service Funeral Home. The funeral service was at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 22 in the chapel with the Rev. Dr. Guy E. McCombs officiating. Burial was in Huntsville Memory Gardens.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Christian Church, 3209 Whitesburg Drive, Huntsville, Alabama, 35802, where he was a longstanding member.
