Bruce "W4TA" Benjamin Blackburn

Bruce Benjamin Blackburn, Jr. (W4TA), 91, died November 1, 2012 in St. Petersburg, FL where he was born on April 12, 1921. Graduated SPHS class of '39 and completed one year at St. Petersburg Junior College. He then transferred into Georgia Tech's co-op program of alternating three month quarters of work and study sessions and then enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. In July 1944, Bruce and Martha Fowler were married in Athens, Georgia. He was assigned to Signal Corps operations in Europe and released from the Army as a First Lieutenant and resumed his studies at Georgia Tech where he graduated with a BSEE degree in 1947. He then returned to Florida to help his father with the operation of the Lakeview Dairy Farm while he sought a career opening in his specialty of communications. During this period, he earned his private pilot license at Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg. He signed up with the newly activated Central Intelligence Agency and was assigned tours of duty in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He initiated the agency's co-operative student recruitment program and retired from the agency in 1972. Bruce was awarded the Intelligence Medal Of Merit. Having learned that the country of Jordan in the Middle East was lacking modern communication systems, he was able to become His Majesty King Hussein's personal communications advisor, with a charter to set up His Majesty's Royal Communications detachment, HMRC. After returning home to the states in March of 1980, Martha was diagnosed with Cancer and died in September. In May of 1986, Bruce married Judy Lynn Kirby Smith in St. Petersburg. Bruce was an enthusiastic amateur radio operator, having been first licensed in 1936 as W4DWU and later as amateur extra class W4TA and also held commercial radio licenses First Class Radiotelephone and First Class Radiotelegraph. He was a member of the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club and a life member of the American Radio Relay League. He was a member of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club with membership #132. His overseas sailing experiences included trips from Hong Kong to Manilla, and from Singapore to Penang. King Hussein appointed him Commander of the Jordanian AL-ISTQLAL. He was a Life scout with the L.M. Tate Post 39 and a member of Central Christian Church. In addition to his first wife, Martha, he was predeceased by his father, former St. Petersburg Mayor Bruce B. Blackburn, Sr., his mother, Beatrice Blackburn, his son, Bruce B. Blackburn, III, and his sister, Virginia Hearn. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Judy; daughters, Linda (Dick) Gross, Stacey (Chuck) Burnite; and son, Shawn (Cindy) Smith. He has six grandchildren, Miriam (Billy) Rose, Jeff Gross, Kayla and Katie Smith, and Caleb and Megan Burnite. Visitation will be Friday, November 9, 2012 10:00 A.M. with service time at 11:00 A.M. at Central Christian Church 6161 22nd Ave. N. with Rev. Rich Franz officiating. Interment: Memorial Park Cemetery. The family requests memorials to Suncoast Hospice. $(document).ready(function(){ });