David Carleton Dillon

1935, in St. Marys, West Virginia, to Roxy (Downs) and Walter David Dillon, who preceded him in death.

David obtained a BSEE from West Virginia University and an MSEE at Texas Technological College while

participating in the U.S. Air Force ROTC program. David then served for nine years, achieving the rank of

Captain as a communications/radar officer at various North American duty stations. He also served as

technical liaison to the U.S. Navy as a member of the Telemetry Working Group of the Inter-Range

Instrumentation Group.

As an Engineering professional, David held various government clearances and worked with Lawrence

Livermore and Los Alamos Labs while a Senior Programmer/Analyst with Cray Research, perhaps the

world’s preeminent builder of supercomputers. He also worked as a technical consultant in San Jose,

with Peritus International, Santa Clara; Sorcim Corporation of San Jose, Control Data Corporation in

Bloomington, MN, and Sunnyvale, and Litton Industries.

Dave’s musical interests went back to childhood. His father played piano in bands around their home,

and Dave studied piano and organ and played in church. His primary interest was the organ, however,

both classical and theatre.

The organ/computer connection came when some additions were made to the Ruffatti pipe organ in

San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall. That organ had a microcomputer control system that, like the

organ itself, had been designed and built in Italy. No local technicians knew how it actually worked, but

the control system had to be expanded in order to accommodate the organ additions. David had already

gained a reputation as a “Super” electrical/computer engineer and was engaged to create a solution. He

studied the schematics and other notes of the original organ installer, consulted with then-principal

organists John Fenstermaker and David Higgs, copied the base program from the controller’s EPROMS;

and then engineered improvements to facilitate the expanded organ and a faster processor,

accomplishing all this while working in his “spare time” and living out of various local motel rooms.

Today, the 1980s-vintage system works without fail.

David was a member of various societies: Eta Kappa Nu, the ANSI X3J3 FORTRAN Committee, IEEE, and

the Telemetry Working Group of the IRIG. He was also a member of the Board of Professional Engineers

of West Virginia.

David possessed great intellect and a generous spirit and was a friend to all who knew him. Per his

wishes, a private time of sharing will be held later. David is interred at the Riverside National Cemetery,

Riverside California.