LEONARD ROGER GEPHART
My ancestor, Johann Georg Philipp Gebhard, emigrated to America (Pennsylvania) in 1738. My records go back to Philipp's great grandfather, Joachim Gebhard, b. 1609, who was assistant village mayor and councilman of Abtweiler, Rheinland-Pfalz.
I was born in 1926 and raised in Malvern, Arkansas. During World War II, I served as a radioman in the Marine Corps at Guam and Pelelieu. I was dishcarged from the service in June of 1946, and that fall I enrolled in the Electrical Engineering College at the University of Arkansas. I met La Neil Fulbright at the University and we were married one year later.
I went to work in 1951 as an engineer for military bombing-navigational computers and radars at Boeing Airplane Co., Wichita, Kansas. Later assignments as an engineering manager included: development of the first aircraft terminals that were part of a world-wide satellite communication system; inventing and developing the first system that would protect an airplane and its equipment from the damaging electromagnetic effects of a nuclear explosion; development chief of electronic warfare jammer aircraft; chief engineer for designing a 747 airborne observatory for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that included an infrared telescope with a 10 foot diameter mirror. For the President's 747 aircraft, known as Air Force One, I directed the technical portion of the competitive proposal. In addition, I was the Boeing chief negotiator with the customer on technical terms and conditions of the contract.
Activities other than my vocation have included: chartering of Derby, Ks. Methodist Church and serving as trustee, steward and chairman of the board; chairman of a Cub Scout pack; little league baseball coach; president of Fraternity Alumni Association; member of the Institute of Electrical Electronic Engineers; past program chairman and director of electronic countermeasures society, (Old Crows); board director of Wichita Free School; member of Wichita Foriegn Affairs Cornmittee and member of Economics Honor Society. My Hobbies have included high fidelity audio design, performing as jazz musician, video digital processing and genealogical research.
La Neil and I are parents of one daughter and four sons. We have 9 grandchildren. Our home is in Derby, Kansas; which is five miles south of Wichita.