John MacGuire

John Conlin MacGuire was born in Casper Wyoming on 4/28/1956 to John and Mary MacGuire. John was the third of 5 children. John grew up spending time in the mountains, learning to ride horses ,shoot and do extended camping into the mountains with the horses. John went to St. Anthony's grade school in Casper. As a child John had a intense interest in airplanes and aerospace . He participated in science fairs in high school. His outstanding work and first paten at the age of 17 granted him an internship at the Ames Research Institute in California. His continued interest and progression in aerospace propelled him to the International Science fair where he placed second in aerospace . He actually met the Emperor of Japan. He was awarded a full scholarship to any University and went to Princeton University majoring in aerospace. He was hired by McDonnell Douglas in California where he worked for several years. He was then headhunted by Lockheed Martin Marietta where he spent the remainder of his 25 working years in advance design and hyper sonics in Dallas /Fort Worth Texas. John modified a plane to fly in competitive International Aerobatics . He was ranked top 10 in the world in extreme aerobatic flying. Actually flying against the Russian team in competition. He sustained a career challenging injury in his plane . The injury left him a T4 paraplegic for the last 25 years. He returned to work within 3 months of his injury and to flying a year later. John obtained a second patent while working for Lockheed. He participated in war games, traveled to the pentagon , product team for the HTV-2 Falcon with DARPA and was associated with the War College. John was awarded the handicapped award for aerospace twice in his lifetime. Because of ill health John retired from Lockheed several years ago and went to work for another defense contractor in the Dallas Fort Worth area. He retired recently secondary to progressive ill health.
John has led a life of intense interest in the physical world, science and the advancement and improvement of America's defense capacity. John leaves behind a loving wife Anne Jeffrey and family and friends who have continued to be impressed by his courage and intellect. John Passed away peacefully on Feb 7, 2021.

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