George MacVeigh
December 17, 1925 — December 20, 2011
Mr. George Edward MacVeigh, 86, of Adamstown, died Tuesday, December 20,
2011, at Buckingham's Choice retirement community.
He was the husband of Ellen P. Grover MacVeigh, his wife of 53 years.
Born on December
17, 1925, in Omaha, Neb.
,
he was the son of the late John Gerald and
Gertrude MacVeigh.
Mr
.
MacVeigh was a 1942 graduate of Bethesda/Chevy Chase High School, and a 1945 graduate
of Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, where he received his Bachelor's Degree in
Mechanical Engineering. He attended Stevens as part of the Naval Reserve "V-12" program.
While in college, he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity.
Mr
.
MacVeigh's naval career was primarily involved in engineering tasks surrounding the
testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific. He was honorably discharged from the Navy after
contracting polio. He continued to work at the Naval Research Lab on the Materials Testing
Reactor in Idaho. He was also the head of the Vehicle Structures Group on Project Vanguard at
Cape Canaveral for 2 years.
Mr. MacVeigh left NRL as part of the first group of workers to form the Goddard Space Flight
Center, which then became part of the newly established National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. He worked as the Engineering Branch Head in the Sounding Rocket Division at
Goddard for over twenty years.
Surviving in addition to his wife, a son John P. MacVeigh of Vienna, VA and two daughters
Virginia Cook and husband Brian K. of Warsaw, Poland and Susan K. MacVeigh of San Rafael, CA, two grandchildren Kelly M. Cook and Ellen A. Cook, nephew David J. MacVeigh, nieces Bretta Reinhard and Melissa Goheen, and a sister-in-law Phyllis Macveigh of Cumberland, MD. He was preceded in death by a brother Jack MacVeigh.
Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Joseph-on-Carrollton Manor, 5845 Manor Woods Road, Buckeystown, MD on Friday, December 23, at 11:00 am with the Rev. Lawrence Frazier as celebrant. Friends may visit with the family from 10:00 am until service time.
Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Silver spring, MD
In lieu of flowers contributions to Buckingham’s Choice Resident Association.