John J. Shipe, patriot, passed away on June 30, 2014 at age 87. A graveside service was held 11:00 a.m. Friday, July 18, 2014 at Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, Missouri.

He was born March 12, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri. He was the son of Henry Spillman Shipe, a KCMO police officer, and Ona Colwes. After serving in Army in World War II, he returned to Kansas City to spend his life's work in the defense and space industries. He married Jacqueline Frances McGee in 1947, who passed on February 16, 2011.

The marriage produced three sons: Lt. Dwight David Shipe, pilot and avionics manager for Cessna who passed in 1980. He is survived by Douglas V. Shipe CPA, MBA, CGMA (wife: Pamela) of Lenexa, Kansas; and Steven A. Shipe (wife: Kanyawan) Computer Server Tech, and their sons Nick and Ray of Westminster, Colorado.

John's career began as bugler and morse code/radio operator during the war in Germany. Upon his return after the war, he worked for Southwestern Bell which taught him electronics. Within in few years and without a college degree, he began designing test equipment for the nuclear bombs produced at the Bendix plant in Kansas City. By 1960, he moved the family to North Ogden, Utah to be one of many engineers designing the inertial guidance system for the Minuteman missile, the first solid propellant rocket. He developed special expertise in designing the rocket engines of the Minuteman, and the "O-ring" booster separation techniques.

John warned for many years that the Challenger shuttle was being misused below temperature specs and would explode someday because the o-rings were not designed for cold temperatures. He was greatly saddened when that happened in 1986.

In 1965, his rocket engine knowledge led to his working with Werner von Braun and Arthur Rudolph at the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The rocket engines of the Saturn V, still the most powerful every built, were designed and built in Huntsville. John invented a historic breakthrough on the Saturn V engines to create a heat exchanger that would move the near absolute zero solid fuel to a burning gas without going through the liquid stage. His technique is still not clearly understood today, 47 years later, and is currently being researched once again, at the Marshall Space Center for possible use in the Mars space trip. The enhanced rocket engine power helped in the success of the 1969 Apollo moon landing. Asked why the Saturn V was so powerful, Von Braun proclaimed: "President Kennedy wants to beat the Russians to the moon, and we will do that. But John and I are going to Mars."

John's work with fuels at near absolute zero temperatures, combined with his experience in nuclear bombs, magnetism, and electronics, led to the invention of the nuclear battery in 1970. This nuclear battery was to be used in the golf cart on the original 1969 moon landing. Although the idea was conceived in 1967 at the dinner table, it took three years of proofing before IBM would grant John an invention release on the concept.

When his son, David, became an Army helicopter pilot, John left the space race and joined Boeing to
improve the reliability of the Huey and Chinook at the Boeing plant near Philadelphia. John returned to
the Kansas City area in 1972 to assist in designing test equipment for the world's first dynamic-ram
computer memory chips made at Western Electric in Lee's Summit. After a short stint at avionics
company King Radio working alongside his son David, John worked at Lake City Ammunition plant until
his retirement in 1986.

His remarkable and diverse career reflected America's incredible technology boom. He accomplished his missions with plenty of study, but without a college degree. He was proud of his sons and wife for
obtaining professional credentials. John somewhat regretted that he was always too busy inventing, designing, building, testing, and repairing equipment to obtain a college degree. He was a do-er.

He credits a good portion of his ideas to his dear wife, Jackie, whose work as a research librarian for NASA played a significant role. Jackie and John met in aviation class at Westport High in Kansas City.

John also credits his elementary school teacher, Ms. Bodenhammer, for inspiring him to reach for the stars. He never forgot his roots and the brilliant people he was fortunate to work with.

Services were under the direction of Vansant-Mills Funeral Home of Clinton, Missouri.