STANLEY EUGENE SNIPES

1936-2021

Stanley Eugene Snipes was born May 27, 1936 in Mangum, OK, to William T. “Buster” and Glennie (Thomason) Snipes, and died March 4, 2021, Tomball, TX.

An Oklahoma farmer’s son, after graduating from Mangum High School as valedictorian, he accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, which changed his life forever. After finishing his second year at the Academy in the top 10 percent of his class, he felt led to resign and to major in Electrical Engineering at Oklahoma State University, where he also enrolled in the ROTC and became Battle Group Commander. At OSU, he became a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the Scabbard and Blade Military Society, and Sigma Tau honorary engineering Society. During his senior year, he fell in love with and married his best friend, Carol Ann Adams, Dec. 28, 1957.

After graduating in 1958 with a BS in Electrical Engineering, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. Before reporting to active duty, he accepted a position with Boeing Airplane Company in Seattle, WA, as an electrical engineer working on the flight control system for the nuclear warheaded Bomarc surface-to-air interceptor missile. In 1959 he reported to active duty at Fort Sill, OK and attended Field Artillery Officers Basic Course after which he was assigned Chief Instructor in the Electronics Branch of the Communications and Electronics Division which trained radar and missile repairmen and officers.

After completing his tour of duty in 1961, he accepted a position with Autonetics Division of North American Aviation in Downey, CA and became the electrical engineer responsible for the nuclear submarine guidance systems. In 1964, Stanley received a MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. The same year he was offered a position with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Houston, TX and accepted it. After moving with his family to Houston, he began working at the Johnson Space Center on the Apollo moon program and became the subsystem manager for the Apollo Command Module Guidance Navigation and Control System throughout all missions on the Apollo program as well as the Apollo-Soyuz Program with Russia, and the Skylab program. He was also the engineer responsible for the Entry Monitor System for Apollo.

On the Space Shuttle program, he was the engineer responsible for working with Canada and their space agency in the design and production of the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or robot arm. He was also one of the electrical engineers assigned to work with military and civilian payload customers desiring to fly their systems or payloads on the Space Shuttle. After retiring from NASA in 1991, he continued to provide support to NASA and the Space Shuttle electrical integration area as an employee of Rockwell/ Boeing until his retirement from there in 1999.

Stanley loved to be with family, teach in-depth Bible studies, play golf, enjoyed coin collecting and doing family genealogical research. He served as deacon and lay-missionary abroad at Champion Forest Baptist Church and was honored to receive the title of deacon emeritus at his church in 2019. He was also a proud member of the Freedom Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution. In his free time, Stanley taught himself Russian and Portuguese.

He was preceded in death by his son Stanley, by his beloved wife of 40 years, Carol Ann, and by his brothers David Lee Snipes and Thomas Robert “Rob” Snipes. He is survived by his wife Nell; his daughter Lori and her husband Todd King and their children Heather, Austen, Forrest and Colin; his son Joel Snipes and his wife Karen and their children

Samuel, Luke, and Noah; his sister-in-law Margaret Snipes and their children Susan and Will; his stepdaughter Kathy and her husband Robert Cossick and their children Wesley, Allison and Kristen; his stepdaughter Karen Mick and her daughter Jessica.

Visitation is scheduled to be held at Klein Funeral Home, 16131 Champion Forest Dr., Klein, TX from

5 – 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9. The funeral service will be held at Champion Forest Baptist Church, 15555 Stuebner-Airline Rd., Houston at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 10. Burial will take place in Mangum, Oklahoma. Deep gratitude to the staff at Southern Knights Sr. Living Facility in Tomball for the love and care they provided our father. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Camp Hope, Houston, a Christian-based private facility serving veterans with PTSD.