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Harold Martin Prather, Jr.

Harold Martin Prather, Jr.

Male

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  • Name Harold Martin Prather 
    Suffix Jr. 
    Relationshipwith Kathleen Alice Jones-Rouse
    Gender Male 
    Also Known As Marty 
    Person ID I7552  Enchanted Family Tree
    Last Modified 21 Mar 2012 

    Father Harold Martin Prather,   b. 25 Oct 1926, Manchester, Delaware County, Iowa, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Jan 1997, Seattle, King, Washington, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 70 years) 
    Mother Anna Mae Catherine Rausch,   b. 18 Aug 1927, Luxemburg, Dubuque County, Iowa, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 21 Dec 1985, Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 58 years) 
    Family ID F3886  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Rose Lorene Conover 
    Family ID F3887  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 14 Mar 2012 

  • Photos
    Harold Martin 'Marty' Prather, Jr.
    Harold Martin 'Marty' Prather, Jr.

  • Notes 
    • See attached sources. [1]
    • (Research):"Marty" was living with his paternal grandmother and step-grandfather in Waterloo, Iowa, when they moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1955. He moved in with his father and step-mother, Polly, in 1957 in Burien, WA, where he started the fifth grade . Marty was an average student through high school with interests in sports (including his father's early model stock car racing) and photography (he was president of the high school photo club).

      After high school graduation in 1965 he continued his interests in photography and photo lab processing, working as a clerk at Tall's Camera Supply, as a photo lab technician at Longacres thoroughbred horse race track, and as a "copy camera oper ator" (making negatives and photo prints for offset press and art presentations) at the Boeing Company photo lab.

      In 1966, during the Vietnam conflict, he volunteered for the draft and entered the Army in June. During his various leaves from the Army he searched for and found information that lead to a reunion with his younger brother and sister from whom h e had been separated as a child. After spending the majority of his 2 year tour of duty working in the photo lab at the Army Field Printing Plant, Ft. Sill, OK, he returned to Seattle and rehired with Boeing.

      Marty started college in 1968 with an interest, initially, in architecture. In 1969 he quit Boeing again to attend college full time. After a few quarters his interests shifted to aerospace engineering, influenced by the Apollo lunar landing mis sions. He worked part time as a dishwasher in a restaurant to supplement his tuition support from the G.I. Bill. While at the University of Washington, Seattle, his main method of transportation was by 10-speed bicycle. He made several long trip s by bicycle from the "U" District to South Seattle to visit his father and friends, and to work.

      During his undergraduate college years he was elected chairman of the student chapter of AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - dedicated to excellence in aerospace engineering) at the U of W, as well as elected as a life mem ber to Tau Beta Pi (a national engineering society).

      After college graduation, Marty rehired with the Boeing Company in January, 1974, as a stress analyst engineer, working on the 747 SP commercial jet airplane. His responsibilities included ensuring the integrity of the structural components asso ciated with the aft fuselage tail cone (aft of the cabin), the vertical and horizontal tails, and 747 landing gear. While working at Boeing he continued grad school taking classes part time until he got his Master of Science in Aeronautics and A stronautics degree from the U of W in 1976.

      In 1974 he met Rose Lorene Conover, a Seattle native, whom he married in 1976. They moved into an apartment in Northwest Seattle where they lived the first year of their marriage. In 1977 they purchased a duplex in Mountlake Terrace, WA, lived i n one side and rented out the other.

      In June, 1979, Marty and Rose moved out of the duplex to a house 3 miles south and at the same time Marty was transfered to the Boeing 757 project at the other end of the city (a 26 mile commute, one way). He assumed the position of lead enginee r for the internal structural loads for the 757-200 tail cone, vertical, and horizontal tails. He remained in this position through the design, manufacturing, flight test, certification, and destruction testing of the 757.

      In 1985 he transferred within Boeing to the Structures Engineering Computing Research Group to plan and implement the cost-effective use of engineering tools and methods in Structures Engineering using computers.

      He remains in this lead engineer position today with additional responsibilities to coordinate automation planning and implementation, and "continuous quality improvement", reporting to the Chief Engineer of Loads, Dynamics and Computing, Boein g Commercial Airplane Group.

      Both Marty and Rose do volunteer work for the Seattle Audubon Society.

      Marty's other interests include photography, stained glass, computers (president of a North Seattle computer club; 1986-1988), music (as an amateur composer/guitar player/singer), and mechanical things from remodeling the house to repairing gidg ets.

      ... as of 1993

  • Sources 
    1. [S59] Researcher - Harold Martin Prather, Jr.