Beggs, John Calvin
John Calvin Beggs passed away at age 97 on Thursday, March 24, 2022. “Cal” was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on 23 August 1924, spending childhood years in Oklahoma and Chicago, IL. He served in Company G, 407th Infantry Regiment, 102nd Infantry (Ozark) Division during World War II, was awarded the Purple Heart in the Rhineland campaign on December 1, 1945 and separated from service on 2 Feb. 1946. He married his beloved wife Virginia on June 3, 1947 and their marriage lasted 72 years until her death in 2019. A skilled carpenter and craftsman, Cal built their first home where they raised their family in Manchester and remodeled their cherished retirement home on Fishers Island, NY. He enjoyed building furniture, boat models, and wooden toys. Cal graduated from the University of Illinois in 1948, receiving a BS with honors in Aeronautical Engineering followed by a 38 year career with Hamilton Standard, UTC retiring in 1986. He considered his assignment as Program Manager of the Apollo Portable Life Support System (PLSS), which sustained the astronauts while they were on the lunar surface, to be the most rewarding of his career. Away from the workplace he had two passions; sailing and music. A member of numerous Yacht Clubs he and his two sons successfully raced a Morgan 24 sloop for 25 years and, as he neared the end of his sailing days, successfully raced a Bullseye sloop at the Fishers Island YC. Music was a vital part of his life, learning to read music and play the piccolo at age 8, then turning to singing at age 28, performing as a member of many church choirs and community choruses and as a tenor soloist until his death.
He is survived by daughter and son-in-law Lynn and Tom McManus of Proctor, VT; son and daughter-in-law Bruce and Sandi Beggs of Manchester, CT; son and daughterin-law Brian and Jennifer Beggs of Gulf Breeze, FL plus 10 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and 1 great- great-grandchild.
A memorial service will be held in the StoneRidge auditorium (186 Jerry Browne Rd., Mystic, CT) at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, 8 April 2022. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the StoneRidge Employees Appreciation Fund, 186 Jerry Browne Rd., Mystic, CT 06355 or to Smile Train, PO Box 96321, Washington DC 20090-6231.