 JAMES F. MAKOFSKECAPE CANAVERAL James F. Makofske, 87, passed peace fully on Thurs day, April 1, 2004. James and his twin brother, Jack, were bon on a farm on December 7, 1916 in Hempstead, New York to a family of six children. James left the farm as a young man and went to work in the aviation business. He joined the Army during World War II and was sent to England as an aircraft mechan ic. When he was not repairing the battle damaged aircraft, he was fond of painting nose art on the P-47 and P-51 fighters. His commanders soon discov ered his artistic talents and he was commissioned to paint aerial murals on the walls of the 8th Air Force bomber mission control center. After the war James returned to New York and the aviation business and married. In 1948 he was offered a job in the then new aerospace industry. He moved his family to what is now the Kennedy Space Center and later moved to the town of Cape Canaveral when NASA pur chased the properties surround ing the launch pads. James contributed to all the major space programs including the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Sky Lab manned programs and the Atlas and Minutemen unmanned programs. When he was not working with rockets, James enjoyed fishing and tak ing his family sailing on the Ba nana and Indian Rivers in the 18-foot mahogany sailboat he built himself. James is survived by his wife of 56 years, Marion Makofske; son, Jim ; daughter, Marianne Smith and her husband, Richard; son, Robert and his wife, Joanne; and grandchil dren, Mathew and Jessica. Memorial services will be held at 7 p.m., Friday, April 9th, at the Cape Canaveral VFW Post #10131.  |
