Dr. Michael S. Holtcamp, 80, of Toney, passed away 6/28/18 of complications of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Holtcamp was a native of Whitwell, Tennessee. He graduated from Whitwell High School, where he was president of his junior and senior classes, and played both football and basketball. After graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1960 with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Dr. Holtcamp took a job with Bell Telephone Laboratories in Winston-Salem, NC. On February 21, 1962, inspired by John Glenn’s historic orbital flight, Dr. Holtcamp interviewed for and subsequently accepted a job with NASA in Huntsville, AL., where he worked as an Instrumentation Engineer in the Wind Tunnel facility where Saturn configurations were being aerodynamically tested. In 1964, the allure of a new Army program to build a defensive missile capable of destroying an ICBM in flight led him to transfer to the U.S. Army Missile Command to work in the NIKE-X Project Office. In 1968, the Army was delegated management responsibility for the Kiernan Reentry Measurement Systems at what was then known as the Kwajalein Missile Range. Dr. Holtcamp was placed in charge of this effort. During his tenure, the site added two state of the art radars and other instrumentation. In 1970, the Commanding General named him the Outstanding Young Executive of the Safeguard System Command.
Dr. Holtcamp was selected in 1973 as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow to attend graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned his Master’s Degree. In 1974, during the Cold War, Dr. Holtcamp was part of an MIT group who traversed the Iron Curtain in Berlin and travelled to Moscow, Russia. In 1981, he completed his doctoral studies at Nova Southeastern University. He remained a civilian employee of the Army throughout the rest of his career in Missile Defense. He retired in 1997 with 35 years government service. He especially valued his professional years working with the Kwajalein Missile Range and directing the U.S. – Israeli program to develop a missile defense capability for Israel, now perhaps the most capable and comprehensive national missile defense program in the world. Through the years, he earned many awards for his achievements, including the Department of Army Meritorious Civilian Service medal and award. Following his retirement he was inducted into the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Civilian Hall of Fame and into the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Wall of Honor. For the following 16 years he worked as a consultant, retiring again at the end of 2012.
Dr. Holtcamp had a rich and varied life. He played an Indian in a 1950s Walt Disney movie titled A Light in the Forest. In 1964, one of his first jobs for the Army was to buy a submarine. Fears had grown that the Russians might infiltrate the Kwajalein Lagoon to retrieve highly classified debris from tests of U.S. ICBMs that crashed into the lagoon. The Army decided that we must recover the test debris quickly. SCUBA divers, while they could reach those depths, couldn’t linger long, making recovery a slow and arduous process. Dr. Holtcamp evaluated several deep-sea diving vehicles and techniques. Then he came across the Perry Cubmarine. He contacted Mr. Perry and arranged a trial. Dr. Holtcamp travelled to Palm Beach where he took a test dive in the Cubmarine. It carried a crew of two and the cabin was surrounded by portholes that gave good visibility of its surroundings. It would enable the operators to locate the missile debris and direct the divers to the spot for quick recovery. The price was $50,000 and Dr. Holtcamp committed to the purchase. By the end of the year, the Perry Cubmarine was in use at Kwajalein. This original Cubmarine is now on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. He was also one of only a few that crossed through the Berlin Wall during the 1970s Cold War for an official visit to Moscow as part of a group of young business executives.
Dr. Holtcamp was an active member of Lakewood United Methodist Church for many years, serving in many administrative capacities, including Chairman of the Administrative Board. Dr. Holtcamp was active with his children’s activities and schools, serving as a coach of youth baseball and PTA president at West Mastin Lake Elementary. A former scout himself, he served as a Scoutmaster of two different Boy Scout troops, Troop 380 sponsored by Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and Troop 86 sponsored by Toney United Methodist Church. His programs always included monthly hikes and campouts and annual weeklong treks on the Appalachian Trail or canoe trips down the Buffalo National River or other waterway. In the late 1970s, when the private Aquatic Club closed, he organized the Aquatic Club Swim Association, leased the facility and managed the community pool and its swim teams into the mid-1980s. He was active with the Sparkman High School Football Boosters, carrying football equipment to away games among other tasks. He also served in several capacities, including President of the Huntsville Fern Society, putting in many hours of work in the Fern Glade of the Huntsville Botanical Garden. He was preceded in death by his father, Frank Holtcamp, and mother, May Belle Bailey Holtcamp, and half-sister Lucy Raines, all of Whitwell, and brother Jerry Holtcamp of Huntsville. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Veali Montgomery Holtcamp. A favorite poem of Dr. Holtcamp and his wife by the English poet Christopher Logue inspired them in their childrearing:
“Come to the edge. We might fall. Come to the edge. It’s too high.
COME TO THE EDGE! And they came. And we PUSHED. And they FLEW!”
Dr. Holtcamp is survived by three children who have flown high, of whom he was very proud and who continually enriched his life: Jeff Vest (Lori), a combat Air Force veteran, of Colorado Springs, Candy Welch (Michael) of Toney, AL and Tim Holtcamp (Misty) of Madison, AL and by five wonderful grandchildren: Hannah and Emma Welch and Mackenzie and Mason Holtcamp and Shaun Jackson. And by several Grand-dogs.
A memorial service at Hazel Green United Methodist Church is scheduled for Monday, July 2nd at 4:30pm with visitation beginning at 3:00pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Huntsville Botanical Garden.
