Edwin Smally

Ed was born in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin in 1929 but grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He worked in small logging camps in his early years. He was captain of his HS football team his senior year and was picked to play in the Upper Peninsula North/South football game. He spent 4 years in the Air Force during the Korean War where he repaired radios and radar equipment this started his interest in electronics and led to his going to the Milwaukee school of Engineering, getting a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He later went to Boston University where he received a Masters Degree in Business Administration. In the late 50’s he spent 2 years working at a small remote location in the Near East monitoring Russian missile shots. The 60’s were busy and exciting time for Ed. He met and married Joann Gannon, he started working at the MIT Instrumentation lab on the Apollo Program where he designed a program that verified the correct functioning of the Apollo Guidance System before liftoff and in flight. He later worked on testing the missile guidance systems onboard the Poseidon and Trident submarines and took many trips on the submarines. . During this time he presented papers on testing computer guidance systems at 3 IEEE United States and International Conferences. After retiring he worked as a consultant for Draper Laboratory at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for 25 years He belonged to the IEEE technical organization, was active in the American Legion, coached youth basketball, soccer and baseball for many years, and was on his condominium Board for 14 years. He is survived by his wife Joann; his 3 sons Michael, Patrick and James; and 5 grandchildren Amanda McAskill, Abby Smally and Sean, Shannon, and Joseph Smally; and 2 Great grandchildren Christopher Shields and Kayleigh MacAskill.