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- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 9 Mar 2011.
Lena Cardin Watson obituary
- [S1] U. S. Social Security Death Index, 408-50-4834.
Issued in Tennessee, residing in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama
- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Huntsville Times (AL), 30 Jul 2006.
Max Herman Sharpe , 70, of Huntsville passed away Thursday.
A native of Madisonville, Tenn., he was a resident of Huntsville since 1957. After graduating from Tennessee Technological University with a degree in chemical engineering, he began his career with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, later transitioning to NASA. He had a 40-year career dedicated to the space program; spanning the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab programs and portions of the current Space Shuttle and Space Station programs. During his career he was the recipient or co-recipient of 18 patents related to materials and processing technologies. He received the first NASA invention award presented by Marshall Space Flight Center in 1961 for his invention related to chemical milling of metals and was recognized as NASA Inventor of the Year in 1991 for his developments related to thermal protection systems. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Marshall Space Flight Center's Productivity Enhancement Complex, which has evolved to become the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing.
He was a member of the External Advisory Board of the Center for Manufacturing Research at Tennessee Technological University. His other hobbies and interests included astronomy, gardening, bee keeping, forestry, hunting and bird watching.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Myrna Watson Sharpe ; daughter, Cyndi Sharpe Lindberg of Atlanta; son, Jonathan B. Sharpe of Huntsville; son-in-law, Craig Lindberg; daughter-in-law, Lacey Sharpe ; grandchildren, Eric Ross Lindberg, Kyle Reynolds Lindberg, Ashley Nichole Sharpe , Cara Joyce Sharpe and RileyAnne Harrington Sharpe ; and sisters, Verna Sue Plemmons of Madisonville, Nina Belle Alexander of Atlanta, and Virginia Chevalier of Manassas, Mich.
Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Maple Hill Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Saturn V Restoration Project, One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL 35805, www.savethesaturn.com.
Laughlin Service Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.
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