Clayton A White, Jr.

Clayton A. White, Jr., son of Lillian and Clayton A. White, Sr. was born in Fredericktown, Missouri, where he attended Campbell Grade School before graduating from Fredericktown High School in 1960. He spent the next couple of years working before deciding to enter the U.S. Navy where he trained to be an Aviation Fire Control Technician in Millington, Tennessee and Sanford, Florida. He served with the VAH-1/RVAH-1 squadron making two cruises to the Mediterranean Sea and one to the South China Sea, along with a shake-down cruise aboard the USS Independence (CVA-62). Additionally, he performed the duties of technician for the AN/ASB-12 Bomb Director Set on the A5-A and RA-5C Vigilante aircraft and worked on both the flight line and in the Basic Automatic Checkout Equipment shop. After completing his service with the Navy, he began a career with McDonnell-Douglas in St. Louis working on electrical systems for the F-4 Phantom II aircraft. Clayton then turned his attention to furthering his education, graduating from Mineral Area College in Flat River (now Park Hills), Missouri, before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and technology) in Rolla, Missouri. In 1972, he married Virginia Lauer, and later moved to Huber Heights, Ohio to go on to start a family with three sons. In 1974, he began a career at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where he worked as an electronics engineer with the Aeronautical Systems Division, and with the Radar Systems branch in the Avionics Engineering Division. Working there until is retirement in 1999, he was involved in many radar projects across several aircraft and other related systems. A life-long fan of Nikola Tesla and his work, Clayton, at any given time, always had a few hobby projects he would tinker with often involving radios, antennas, and/or electricity. For all that knew him, his desire to learn, the way he would choose his particular likes and dislikes, his way of looking at a world full of possibilities, and the infectious way he could get into fits of laughter telling stories even about being chased by a chicken in childhood, Clayton will be greatly missed. Visitation will be held at Wilson Funeral Home in Fredericktown, Missouri on Tuesday, June 16, 2020 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Funeral service will begin at 1 p.m. immediately following visitation. A private burial will be in St. Martin's Cemetery in Starkenburg, Missouri. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in Clayton's name to St. Jude's Children Research Hospital. Condolences may be posted on this website.