Bobby Dale Johnson 79, of Huntsville passed away December 27, 2022. Born in Albertville, AL, he graduated from Huntsville High School in 1961 and the University of Montevallo in 1976. He served in Da Nang, Vietnam with the U. S. Navy “SeaBees”, while stationed out of Gulfport, MS.
Survivors include his wife of 41 years, Dianne Anderson Johnson; son, Robert Nunnally Johnson; brother, Ronny Johnson and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by father, Orvis D. Johnson; mother, Amie Lee (Daniel) Johnson; daughter, Meredith Brooke Johnson and sister, Pam Shipman.
An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed all the beauty that God has provided. Retirement objective was to fabricate a geodesic dome cabin on top of the mountain out in Grant, AL to spend his final days. This dream did not get completed before his death.
Early in his career he worked at Cape Kennedy during the Apollo Moon program, contributed to first electron-beam welding in space experiment “M-512” of Skylab program, was involved in developing robotic “TIG-welding” equipment used for repairing steam generators for the Westinghouse Corporation out of Nashville, TN. The bulk of his forty year engineering career was spent with SCI Systems of Huntsville, AL designing electro-mechanical hardware in support of “electronic black boxes” used on military and commercial programs.
His last job with Minerva Engineering, a small company out of Phoenix, AZ, he was involved with assembling office desk/chairs, reading specifications then responding with conceptual design instructions, fabrication sources, physical assembling, packaging, shipping and even janitorial services. He also modified Up-Armored HMMWV vehicle to be a mobile helicopter landing radio center and developed training devices used in spherical training center.
Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, December 29, 2022, at Laughlin Service Funeral Home. A Funeral service will be Friday, December 30, 2022, at 2 p.m. in the Chapel. A graveside service will follow at Huntsville Memory Gardens.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Downtown Rescue Mission (dwntownrescuemission.org), or the Land Trust of North Alabama.
