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George W. Daly Middletown, DE QCWA # 07369 Chapter 82 |
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Retired U.S. Navy Capt. George William Daly of Middletown died of natural causes Monday, June 21, 2010, at his home in Cricklewood. He was 91.
Capt. Daly was born Oct. 27, 1918, in New York, N.Y., son of the late Anna and Jack Thomas Daly.
He was raised in Great Neck, N.Y., where he attended Chaminade High School. Proving to be an exceptional student and outstanding athlete, he received a M.E. from Stevens Institute of Technology, and a Master of Education from the University of Maryland. He was a lifelong and avid student of things technical, educational and historical.
In the early 1930s at age 12, he successfully fixed several broken AM radios and knew he wanted to learn more about the new technology of electronics. Options for classes in Great Neck were limited, so the seventh-grader wrote to the Amateur Radio Relay League for a home-study course, which guided him through many hours of learning electronic principles and practicing Morse code. In 1935, he passed the 10 words per minute Morse code test and the written test for the Class C General license at the FCC offices on Church Street in New York City. This began his nterest in Amateur Radio, which continued for more than 75 years, which included attainment of the highest license: W3WU.
While at the Stevens Institute, Capt. Daly enjoyed listening to a local band with the then unknown singer Frank Sinatra. After graduating, he worked as an efficiency expert at RCA Manufacturing in Camden, N.J., there meeting his future wife, Frances. However, it was Capt. Daly.s attraction to electronics and education that shaped much of his professional career of 27 years in the U.S. Navy and into retirement.
In 1941, he earned a commission in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Quickly upgraded to regular Navy, he was posted to Norfolk Navy Yard, where as first radar officer he supervised all early radar installations, including air search, navigation and fire control, and then taught engineering at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. In the late 1940s into the 1950s, he served as department head of the Bureau of Ships and Portsmouth (N.H.) Naval Shipyard. From 1960 to 1962, he held the post of deputy chief, Office of Industrial Relations at the Pentagon. In this capacity, he directed all labor relations programs for the U.S. Navy under President John F. Kennedy.s executive order providing labor units with exclusive bargaining rights in naval activities. He retired in 1967 as director of Material Control Division for the Navy in Washington, D.C.
Teaching was his second great interest, first doing so at Montgomery College, Rockville, Md., then at the Department of Technical Education and Industrial Technology at the University of Maryland, and later as a volunteer instructor and examiner for the ARRL during his early retirement years in Florida.
Capt. Daly spent his final years surrounded by his family and his beloved books and periodicals.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister, Marie Porreco; and a granddaughter, Mary Landels Daly.
He is survived by his wife of nearly 68 years, Frances; a brother, Francis A. Daly; three sons and three daughters-in-law, George Jr. and Mary Anne Daly of Mill Valley, Calif., John and Taylor Daly of Atlanta, Ga., and Peter and Patricia Daly of Clarksburg, Md.; three daughters and three sons-in-law, Joan and Martin Mason of Odessa, Mary Ann and Paul West of Berkeley Heights, N.J., and Barbara and Gerhard Gnaedig of Greenwich, Conn. At the time of his death, he had 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Mass of Christian Burial will be Friday, June 25, at noon at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 371 E. Main St., Middletown, friends may call one hour earlier.
Burial with military honors will be Saturday, June 26, at St. Mary.s Cemetery, 399 North St., Greenwich, Conn.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Tutwiler Clinic, 205 Alma Street, Tutwiler, MS 38963-0462.
Arrangements by Daniels & Hutchison Funeral Home LLC, Middletown.