Frederick C. Race

Frederick C. Race, 73, resident of Blue Mountain and retired military career person, passed away peacefully from complications of Parkinson's, Sept. 13, 2016 at the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Services, with Military Honors, will be at 2 PM Friday, Sept. 16 in The Heritage Chapel of Ripley Funeral Home with Bro. Jerry Bonds, pastor of the Blue Mountain United Methodist Church officiating. He will be laid to rest at the Blue Mountain Cemetery.
  Fred was born September 20, 1942 in Toledo, OH and he leaves behind his devoted wife Linda of 50 years, his two children, Amanda Race (Daniel Darnell) of Fairbanks, Alaska and Jeff Race (Mandy) of Colorado Springs, Colorado,his grand daughter, Allison, 2 brothers, Tim Goheen (Kim) of Phoenix, Arizona and Ken Goheen (Debbie) of Virginia, his nieces and nephew, Erin, Megan and Hunter, several cousins including Dale Race ( Annette) and Jim Race (Chris) and his aunt, Beverly Race of New Jersey. He was preceded in death by his beautiful mother, E. Marie Goheen, father, Donald, beloved uncles, Gale, Merlin and Dale Race, Sr., special aunt, Virginia Davenport and his "best friend" Woody, the dog.
  Fred, call sign W8FR, was a Ham for over 58 years. He first listened to Hams at age 7 on his grandfather's old Philco radio of 1937's vintage, and at age 13 while working in a radio-tv shop as an assistant, he heard local Hams on 160 using a car radio that covered up to about 1900 KHz. He met one of the 160 groups, Pete, W8WRO; by listening to him describe his neighborhood, which was only 2 blocks away! This led to a novice license in 1957, a general in 1958, and almost exclusive 160 operations until 1970. His first call wsa K8IUA, then KL7HEE, followed by W8KWN, W8FR, AL7JO and finally, W8FR (reclaimed). He has had several overseas calls including GM5BFQ while in Scotland, TA2F and TF1TB (both "bootleg" calls), DL4IU and many MM1, 2 and 3 operations at sea. While working at United Telephone in Ohio in 1970, he met Al Weber on the Ham Radio from Fairbanks, Alaska who told Fred there was a job at the University of Alaska with his brother Ken, where he worked at UAF from July 1970-72, while living at Rainbow Valley Trailer Park with his wife, infant son and daughter.
  While serving 29 years of military service in the Army Reserves, Regular Army, then Navy, he earned 2 degrees: BSET and BA (History & Government). After retiring from the Navy in 1990, he earned a Post-Baccalaureate K-8 Teaching Certificate from the University of Alaska in 1991. This led to teaching in Fairbanks, Alaska School District (1993), and then 5th and 6th grades in Mohave Valley Elementary School, Arizona (1994-96). In 1999, a Masters dissertation, subject to military and proprietary "Classification" was submitted to the University of WA and confirmed. It was subsequently awarded by his aerospace employer, after much delay; lost in a government program secure documents shuffle (14 Years)!
  In the workplace (1991-1993), Fred taught members of Air Force Space Command in Spacecraft Communications and Tracking Systems, while working for LORAL Space & Range Systems in Sunnyvale, CA. Then, he moved to the Seattle area to teach for the Boeing Company in September 1996. Fred worked for Boeing in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, Instructional Systems Design (ISD) until July 1999. Prior to this last assignment, he was Lead Training Specialist for the "DarkStar" Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program. The Military UAV programs ultimately became his foremost interest area. Before that promotion, he was initially assigned to AWACS Training Services in Kent, WA as Lead Communications Maintenance Course Developer and Instructor for USAF E3, and Japanese E767 AWACS platforms.
  He retired (again) to Laughlin, NV in July 1999, and in the Spring of 2000, he agreed to independently-contract to design and teach the DEMC maintenance course for the General Atomics "Predator" UAV program at Indian Springs, NV USAF-AF. Then, he contracted as a Senior Technical Writer(Robotics) for Asyst Technologies, Inc. of Fremont, CA. This became a "Telecommute" job (March 2001), and on completion Fred again returned to retirement (September 2001).
  He moved to Blue Mountain, MS (March, 2002) and he declared this the "best retirement and Ham radio location ever!" After turning 62 in September 2004, he started Social Security Retirement on October 1 initiating a "full retirement enviroment" and that led to odd assignments in Antenna Design/prototyping for Martin Jue at MFJ (MFJ 61, 62 & 64xx series and 14 others) Tech Writing, Educational Counseling and Ham Radio operation. Recently, Fred was honored with an official occupational Title "Concept Expert-Emeritus" for his training course and Senior Writing skills in UAV Systems for the USAF and various Defense contractors.
  He described his wife Linda, as his personal "ANGEL" who cared for his needs 24/7 for the last 3 years and that love affair celebrated 50 years longevity on July 2, 2016 with family and friends near & far. Fred enjoyed the adventure of life; opportunities, used and those missed; traveling the world for the Flag; living in Germany, Scotland, Iceland, Hawaii, Alaska and several states which rendered the education of a lifetime. He told his family all the time how much he loved us; we never wanted for anything growing up - we really did have a wonderful life with him.
  Visitation for Mr. Race will be from 12 Noon until service time Friday, September 16 at The Ripley Funeral Home.
  The family request that memorials be directed to Boy Scouts Troop 404, c/o Richard Burns, 1930 CR 718, Blue Mountain, MS 38610
  The Flag at The Ripley Funeral Home entrance honors Mr. Race and all Veterans for service to Our Country.