Frank Gorman Obituary

Frank Barnstead Gorman Capt. U.S. Navy Retired 1965 with Legion of Merit December 8, 1915 - February 24, 2008. Capt. Frank B. Gorman age 92, lived with his son and family in the Black Forest since October 12, 2002 and passed away last Sunday at Penrose Main after courageously battling and recovering from two pneumonias, two cancerous tumor colon resections, congestive heart and renal failure. He was preceded in death by his parents, Frank D. Gorman and Edith Martin Gorman, his beloved wife Ruby Townson Gorman on January 9, 1999, and his youngest brother, Philip Allen Gorman on February 8, 2007. Capt. Gorman is survived by his devoted and loving family, his son of sixty years, Jimmie Frank Gorman, his daughter-in-law, Barbara Dawn Gorman, his grandson, Jason Jimmie Gorman, his great-grandchildren, Allanna and Catherine Gorman, and his younger brother, Robert Gorman. Frank was born on December 8, 1915 in Winthrop,Massachusetts and spent his childhood in Boston. He attended the University of Alabama's Aeronautics Engineering School 1934 - 1938 as a Senior designing a wind tunnel when he had to deploy to Iceland as a Navy pilot and navigator to hunt and torpedo German U-2 boats. He led the two-thirds of the Squadron who chose to follow him to safety during a severe ice storm. He was the First Aircraft Engines Officer of the Pacific Fleet which impacted his hearing in his elderly years. He visited Peking, China at that time and loved Chinese Food throughout his life. He had fireside chats with Harry S. Truman. He was a Navy test pilot after the war. During his Navy career, he took advanced courses in geodesy and optics and is also an alumni of the graduate schools at M.I.T. and the University of Rochester. He was stationed at the Oahu, Hawaii Navy Base with his wife, Ruby, where they met and befriended James and Marie Browning. James later became the Chief Clerk of the US Supreme Court and was news-reeled standing beside President Kennedy during his inauguration. After rescuing a Hawaiian Poi Dog, Billie, they left Hawaii so that their only son and child, Jimmie, would be born on October 28, 1947 in the States at the Bethesda Naval Hospital by Dr./Capt. Peterson, discoverer of the RH factor. His family resided in Arlington, Virginia until he was transferred to Whidbey Island Naval Base, Washington in 1951. He bought a cruiser and his family and Billie had many adventures in the ocean off Vancouver, once rescuing a sail boat. He built the family's first two channel television at his Whidbey Island residence. He was transferred to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio in 1953. He bought a maroon Piper Stinson Station Wagon and took his family on scenic trips, including Varadero Beach, Cuba and Nassau. He performed an emergency dead stick landing with his son, Jimmie, looking down on the fire engines at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. He was transferred to the Pentagon where he was the head of Naval Intelligence 1956-1961. He loved taking friends and family on his speed boat on the Potomac River and on his plane to see everything possible. He was almost transferred to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), Virginia to be in charge of the National Radar Defense, but Ruby objected so much, he was instead transferred to the Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California in 1961. Admiral Greer supported him at military/Presidential meetings to fly the first high altitude balloon experiments with high resolution cameras over ground tri-bar targets. The Admiral kicked him in the shin when he tried to launch his formal presentation and declared, "Shut up Frank! You've already sold them!" Dr./General Lew Allen joined Frank in this very successful scientific endeavor which was the basis for the Corona mission. They achieved 3-4 inch resolution to the chagrin of the NRO secretary who had dared them to catch her topless on a rooftop. Frank was the First Director of Planning and Advance Technology for the National Reconnaissance Organization in 1961-1965, chartered by Henry Kissinger. The dirty dozen consisted of ten Air Force officers and one officer each for the Army and Navy. The secrecy of this organization permitted it to financially operate with high efficiency for many years. Congress, politics, and contract lawyers eventually intervened and costs spiraled. Until then, Frank, Lockheed, Kodak, and Perkin Elmer worked closely together as a dedicated team in the Black World. Frank was the Father of Space Reconnaissance Technology and Ultra High Resolution Photography. He was awarded the Legion of Merit by the Secretary of the Air Force upon his retirement in 1965. He took his family for a European vacation and moved from Palos Verdes, California to Stamford, Connecticut where he was the Director of Planning for Dr. Peter C. Goldmark at Columbia Broadcasting System Laboratories. While working with Dr. Dennis Gabor, who later received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of 3-D holograms, Frank and his co-worker, William E. Glenn, Jr. co-invented 3-D sonograms, a Sonography System for 3-D Holographic Vision by Acoustic Waves. An original motivation was to hunt enemy submarines with a large hydrophone sonar array specially arranged to create this effect. His son, Jimmie, recommended the medical imaging application, later known as ultrasound. He was the 1968 Member of the Presidential Scientific Advisory Committee working with Dr. Losh, Dr. McDonald, and Arthur Lundahl when they analyzed controlled fusion of Deuterium, abundant in our oceans, for virtually infinite energy and power for mankind and interstellar space travel. He joined Frank Rand at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company and was the Manager of Advanced LOB-1 Systems from 1969 to his retirement in 1980, researching yet higher resolution photography, and working with software engineering physicists, like Paul Robb, for equations to eliminate atmospheric perturbations, e.g., Hadamar transforms. He supported the CIA in various photographic airborne and satellite operations, including the Korean War and South African plutonium distillation plants, the KH series, Gambit, and of course Byeman (the main NRO component). He still couldn't relax and formed the GSS Company to supply the CIA with tactical plans for getting even higher resolution and built and polished specially calibrated camera lens and collimators in his home laboratory in Los Altos Hills, California for the CIA within which Al Riggs was his very special friend. He was gratefully pictured with I-Robot, courtesy of Lockheed Martin, at the 22nd US Space Symposium on April 6, 2006, thanks to one of his many devoted caregivers, Millie King. He had once witnessed the heavenly portal with two Centurions on either side and Ruby welcoming him with Christ no far behind, recorded by his caregiver, Carolyn Gold, during a prior near death experience that was thwarted by Atropine, and yet, he still clung to life with a passion to spend more earthly time with his son and family. Select (Semper Care) Long Term Care Hospital and Brighton Gardens helped rehabilitate him back into enjoying life for a long while. He loved long walks to feed the neighbor's horses and adored our dogs and cats and birds and squirrels, and oh yes, first Wok's carryout Chinese Food. His five year old great-granddaughter, Catherine, and he had a particular conversational relationship. His daughter-in-law, Barbara always made sure that he was safe in our house and that he got out of bed on his mostly good days and lovingly kept him clean on his not so good days. A Code Blue recovery was executed on Friday, February 22, while Frank was first tried on normal dialysis at Penrose Main Hospital. Slow dialysis was then implemented, but could not keep up as his kidneys had completely failed. The seemingly miraculous Chines