Dad's Obit that will appear on the Funeral Website tomorrow
Chris Alan Balthrop. Sr. , born May 27, 1945, died July 20, 2011 after an 18 month battle with cancer at his home in Dallas, Texas.
Displaying a passion for engineering as early as the age of 2, Chris attended the University of Texas at Arlington, where he earned a BSEE degree in 1973. He attended UTA at night, earning places in three engineering honor societies: Tau Beta Pi, Alpha Chi, and Eta Kappa Nu while working a full time job during the day. His skills as an engineer earned him 3 patents for his work with barcode readers and fiber optic technology while working for E-Systems in Dallas. He eventually joined Micro-Technology Services, Inc. in Richardson, Texas where he worked until 2010.
When he was not working, Chris enjoyed spending time in his garden backyard that his wife Ellen created for them. He was also a lover of an eclectic variety of music (from classic rock to new age jazz) as well as debating politics, religion, and philosophy with relatives and co-workers (usually taking a Liberal or Libertarian point of view). He also loved to find simple ways to teach his joy of engineering to his grandchildren: for example by finding new ways every Christmas of propelling pennies (from gravity wells to motion banks of all types).
Chris also had a great love of humor, as evidenced by a near 40 year old folder of humor called “The Funny File.” His favorite (and some of the most brilliant) files in the collection belonged to complex engineering diagrams and instructions for creating non-existent objects such as the Dark Emitting Diode (DED), and the Write Only Memory microchip (WOM). “Part of the fun,” he told his son in the late 1990’s, “is watching (the reader’s) face when they finally realize they’ve been had.”
Chris is survived by his wife Ellen Ryberg Balthrop, whom he shared 26 years, his mother Erma “Mickey” Balthrop of Fort Worth, his son Chris Alan Balthrop, Jr. of Plano, and his daughters Lee Ann Godwin of Bedford and Cheryl Lynn Wright of Euless. He is also survived by four grandchildren: James Michael Godwin of Bedford, Alexandra Ellen Wright of Euless, and Simon Marshall Balthrop, and Miles Raymond Balthrop (both of Plano).
Displaying a passion for engineering as early as the age of 2, Chris attended the University of Texas at Arlington, where he earned a BSEE degree in 1973. He attended UTA at night, earning places in three engineering honor societies: Tau Beta Pi, Alpha Chi, and Eta Kappa Nu while working a full time job during the day. His skills as an engineer earned him 3 patents for his work with barcode readers and fiber optic technology while working for E-Systems in Dallas. He eventually joined Micro-Technology Services, Inc. in Richardson, Texas where he worked until 2010.
When he was not working, Chris enjoyed spending time in his garden backyard that his wife Ellen created for them. He was also a lover of an eclectic variety of music (from classic rock to new age jazz) as well as debating politics, religion, and philosophy with relatives and co-workers (usually taking a Liberal or Libertarian point of view). He also loved to find simple ways to teach his joy of engineering to his grandchildren: for example by finding new ways every Christmas of propelling pennies (from gravity wells to motion banks of all types).
Chris also had a great love of humor, as evidenced by a near 40 year old folder of humor called “The Funny File.” His favorite (and some of the most brilliant) files in the collection belonged to complex engineering diagrams and instructions for creating non-existent objects such as the Dark Emitting Diode (DED), and the Write Only Memory microchip (WOM). “Part of the fun,” he told his son in the late 1990’s, “is watching (the reader’s) face when they finally realize they’ve been had.”
Chris is survived by his wife Ellen Ryberg Balthrop, whom he shared 26 years, his mother Erma “Mickey” Balthrop of Fort Worth, his son Chris Alan Balthrop, Jr. of Plano, and his daughters Lee Ann Godwin of Bedford and Cheryl Lynn Wright of Euless. He is also survived by four grandchildren: James Michael Godwin of Bedford, Alexandra Ellen Wright of Euless, and Simon Marshall Balthrop, and Miles Raymond Balthrop (both of Plano).