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<p><em>James Franklin Russell</em> was born in rural, central Ohio on October 10, 1934 to Monroe and Marjorie Russell. Monroe was employed as a union painter and hunted and trapped as well. Marjorie was homemaker and later a school district employee in Plantation, FL, where the family relocated in 1960. Jim was raised and educated in Summit Station, one of 18 to graduate from Lima Local High School in 1952. He was afforded all the charm and character of rural living but clearly desired more worldly experiences, which he later found through military service.</p>
<p>In high school, Jim was the valedictorian of his graduating class and excelled in both basketball and track. He learned the fundamentals of chess and golf and was capable with a hunting rifle. Capitalizing on his academic prowess, Jim attended the Ohio State University in the fall of 1952. He achieved a 4.0 GPA as an engineering physics major during his freshman year, after which he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point from Congressman J. Harry MacGregor of Ohio’s 17th District.</p>
<p>Duty, Honor, Country: add to this motto academic excellence and scientific achievement and you have described Jim’s time at West Point, as well as the cornerstones of his career. According to one classmate, through his informational sessions in the sinks, Jim was responsible for helping more people pass Core Electrical Engineering than anyone else. He graduated 18th in a class of 546, earning him the title of distinguished cadet, and he was presented with the Leslie R. Groves Award for the highest rating in nuclear physics. He was a member of the Golf Club, Debate Council and Forum, French Club, Chess Club, Radio Club and Mathematics Forum, and he earned recognition as a small arms expert marksman.</p>
<p>Upon graduation from West Point in 1957, Jim embarked on a long and distinguished career in the United States Air Force marked by multiple academic achievements, research and scientific contributions and meritorious service awards. From 1957 to 1961, he was assigned to the Strategic Air Command’s Thor missile program, which included a two-year tour in Lakenheath, England. He then returned to his home state of Ohio and Wright-Patterson AFB, where he earned a Master of Science in Astronautics from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1963. Successive assignments in inertial guidance testing, education-with-industry, research support and high energy laser development took Jim on tours of duty throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In 1976, Jim took on another academic challenge, completing a year at Air War College at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL, where he finished one of five career publications in science and program management. In 1977, Jim moved for a final time with the Air Force, this time to Southern California, where he applied his expertise in astronautics to various satellite and Space Shuttle projects.</p>
<p>In 1980, after 23 years of dedicated service, Jim retired from the Air Force and chose to continue his career in space research and development at TRW near Redlands, CA.</p>
<p>Throughout his career and beyond, Jim had the support of wife of 62 years, Mary Lou Russell, originally from Pataskala, OH. Mary Lou attended Jim’s graduation from West Point in 1957, and they were married in June 1958. Prior to getting married, Mary Lou was raised on a large dairy farm in rural Ohio with her parents and sisters. Her days were filled with family activities in her close-knit community and with hard work on the farm. After high school, she attended Ohio University at Athens and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in home economics. In 1958, her sphere of travel and community broadened exponentially when she married Jim and began her remarkable career as military wife and mother, managing the home and activities of her family as they moved around the United States. She wore many hats during Jim’s military duty. Mary Lou threw the greatest birthday parties for her two boys, Craig and Ryan Russell, with homemade cakes shaped like treasure chests, basketballs, and guitars. She shuttled her boys for years to baseball, basketball, and football practice, as well as swimming and guitar lessons. She was a Cub Scout den mother and booster for school fundraisers. She planned countless camping trips around the southwestern United States and fried plenty of bluegill, the bounty of her fisherman husband and children. She prepared gourmet meals, hosted bridge games and dinner parties and, along with Jim, organized and navigated multiple cross country moves to the next duty station. In 1993, she faced her greatest challenge as she supported Jim through a serious illness. She gave new meaning to the wedding vow, “in sickness and in health” as she tended to Jim’s every need during his decades long and ultimately terminal medical condition.</p>
<p>Jim was born with many characteristics that meshed seamlessly with the military lifestyle. He was meticulously organized and highly intelligent. He was creative and solutions oriented and very capable. He could build and repair just about anything mechanical or electrical. He led by example and always strived to do the right thing without cutting corners and believed that life was smoother with well thought out planning. He was a true military man, scientist and academic.</p>
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