Eldon E. Slaughter

GREENWICH, CONN. Eldon Eugene Slaughter died peacefully on Friday morning, July 18, at the Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, Connecticut. He was 85 years old. He had been a resident of Greenwich since 1964. He was the beloved husband of Mary Frances Brown Slaughter for 64 years, who preceded him in death last month on June 17, 2008. Their children are James Arthur Slaughter of Kent, Connecticut, and Marcia Slaughter Woodcock of Smyrna, Tennessee. Born in Richmond, Missouri, July 26, 1922, he was the son of the late William Arthur Slaughter and Frances Slaughter Alnutt of Richmond, Missouri. His grandparents were the late John M. and Sarah Jane Martin Kraus and Samuel and Mae McAfee Slaughter. Eldon grew up in Richmond, Missouri. Mary Frances and Eldon met in the second grade at East Ward School. They were both graduates of Richmond High School in 1940. He began his engineering degree at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, where he served in the cavalry ROTC. Eldon married Mary Frances Brown on March 10, 1945. At the end of WWII, Eldon served as a second lieutenant in the US Army on duty in the Philippines, and spent a year in the army of occupation in Japan after the war, dismantling the kamikaze plane manufacturing plant. After returning from the army, Eldon resumed his studies in electrical engineering at the University of Missouri, graduating in 1948. Eldon and Mary Frances moved to Kansas City where he began his engineering with Great Lakes Pipeline Company. In 1953, he began working for TransWorld Airlines. When he was promoted as the Director of Facilities Planning for TWA in New York City, he and Mary Frances moved their family in 1964 to Greenwich Connecticut. He retired from TWA in 1977. During retirement, Eldon worked on many inventions and had numerous patents, including The New Concept Engine featured in the May 1990 issue of Automobile Magazine. He is survived by his brother, William Arthur Slaughter of Lee's Summit, Missouri. He was preceded in death by his sister, Maxine Slaughter Graddy and her husband, Lowman Graddy of Lexington, Missouri. In addition to his children, James and Marcia, he is survived by four grandchildren, Dewitt Taylor Kennard IV and Bradley Alexander Kennard, both of Nashville, Tennessee, and Evan and Alison Slaughter of Kent, Connecticut. He is also survived by numerous cousins, nephews, and nieces. Local funeral arrangements, which are private, are under the direction of Norwalk's Hoyt-Cognetta Funeral & Crematory Home, 5 East Wall Street. The family will receive relatives and friends on Friday, August 1, 2008 in Thurman Funeral Home, 507 East Main Street, Richmond, Missouri from 10:00AM to 11:00AM. Funeral services for both, Eldon and his wife, Mary, will be held in the funeral parlor, at the conclusion of calling hours, 11:00AM. Interment will follow in Sunny Slope Cemetery, Richmond, Missouri.