Burdette (Burt) Lloyd Demo was born in a farmhouse to John and Elizabeth Demo on January 27, 1928 in Patch Grove, Wisconsin. He passed away peacefully with his wife Diane and his children at his side on June 19, 2018 at the age of 90. Burt grew up in poverty on Iowa farms during the Great Depression.
He attended a one-room schoolhouse a few miles away, and most years he was the only student in his grade. His parents permitted him to attend high school in Decorah, Iowa as opposed to working on the farm during World War II. He began to support himself at the age of 14.
In 1945, he joined the Navy and was sent to boot camp in San Diego. After a few weeks in California, he decided his future lay in this beautiful state. Since his test scores at boot camp qualified Burt for virtually any technical role in the Navy, he chose to attend the Navy electronics school at Treasure Island.
He discovered the Bay Area! After completing two tours of duty in the Navy, he graduated from Iowa State University in 1955 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He considered job offers across the country but knew he wanted to live in California, so he signed on with Lockheed Corporation in Van Nuys.
Shortly thereafter, he was transferred to the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company research labs in Palo Alto and eventually to the large Sunnyvale operation. He worked at Lockheed for 32 years and was an important contributor to the Polaris through Trident II Fleet Ballistic Missile programs. He often said, “These submarine-launched missiles will have served their purpose if they are never used”.
In 1958, he met the love of his life, Diane, in San Francisco. They married in 1959 and bought their first home in Sunnyvale, where they raised four children and actively supported their development and aspirations. Burt served as a Little League baseball coach and Indian Guides leader.
His handyman skills were on full display as he designed many Indian Guides projects. Throughout his life, there was not a home or car repair project that he couldn’t conquer—his garage workbench was that of a “Fix-It Master”. Many summers with their kids in tow, Burt and Diane drove across the U.S. visiting relatives, cities and national parks.
During those summers when they were not traveling, they hosted teachers and students from other countries so that the family broadened their understanding of cultures outside the U.S. This love of travel and learning about other cultures led to Burt and Diane’s participation in Friendship Force, an international organization to promote friendships between peoples. Their travels with Friendship Force took them from homes in Russia to Brazil to Japan, and countries in-between.
They also hosted new friends in their home from over twenty countries. Burt, patriarch of the family, was a loving, kind, thoughtful, faithful, supportive, caring, trustworthy, intelligent, resilient and dependable husband, father and grandfather. He had a quick wit and a keen sense of humor.
He was a long-time parishioner and proclaimer at The Church of the Resurrection in Sunnyvale. Burt is survived by his wife Diane, their four children and ten grandchildren: Murray (Marie), Ryan, Stephanie and Conner; Drew (Hoa), Joshua and Amanda; Martha (Jeff Convissar), Jenna, Kevin and Chelsea; and Tom (Suzanne), Jennifer and Greg. Friends and family are invited to a Funeral Mass Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at 11:00A.
M at Church of the Resurrection located at 725 Cascade Drive, Sunnyvale.
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