Mr. Phillip A. Tardani's Obituary
Phillip A. Tardani was born in Muskegon on November 27, 1925. He was the third child of Settimo Tardani and Josephine Schillaci. He died in Muskegon on June 17, 2017 at the age of 91. He attended Nelson Grade School and Muskegon High School. In 1943, at the age of 17 he left Muskegon to enlist in the Navy. He was discharged and returned to Muskegon in 1946, at the end of World War II. He left Muskegon again in 1947 for school in Chicago and then on to California in 1951 for work. There he was first employed by an aircraft company in San Diego to work on B36 bomber’s bombing systems. After a few months there, he left and joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. He worked there for 35 years on several missile and related projects. His first work at JPL was in the instrument of test rocket firings. After which he was sent to White Sands proving grounds, New Mexico to work on a guided missile being developed for the US Army. In 1956, after a brief period back in Pasadena, he was sent to Cape Canaveral, Florida to establish a JPL office there for joint operations with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (Werher von Braun’s Braun Organization). He worked there for three years during which the team launched the country’s first satellite in 1958. He was very proud to have been part of that operation. He later was called back to Pasadena to become a member of the team to design, build and operate Deep Space Tracking Network to communicate with spacecrafts sent to the planets and beyond. This network was to consist of tracking stations at Goldstone, CA; Madrid, Spain; Canberra, Australia; Womera, Australia; and Johannesburg, South Africa; and a control center at JPL. For this work he traveled extensively between these locations and lived for some years in Spain and Australia. He retired in 1986 and moved to Morro Bay, California, a small town on the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco. After his wife (Edythe Greenwald of Muskegon) died in 1995 he spent summers in Muskegon where in the summer of 1997 he met and later married Diane Zappone. They lived at Harbour Town Condominium Complex. He loved to play golf but was never any good at it. He did not think he could get worse but said he did after moving to Muskegon. He was a member of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus and the Vikings. He is survived by his wife, Diane Zappone Tardani; sisters, Anna Marinelli, Linda (Roger) Kolkema; brothers, Louis (Louise) Tardani, Sam (Mary) Tardani; daughter, Gina (Nihl) Brannam, all of Muskegon; son, Kirk Bowen of Alaska; grandson, Trey Bowen of Alaska; granddaughters, Angela Serio, Alicia Poulia; great-grandchildren, Davis, Aron, Domenic, Brielle, Makayla; sisters-in-law, Sally Tardani and Sharon Tardani. He was preceded in death by his parents, siblings, Leonard, Richard, Martin and Sr Maria. A MEMORIAL MASS will take place on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at St. Francis de Sales, Catholic Church (2929 McCracken St.) at 11:00 Am with Rev. Fr. Charles Hall presiding. VISITATION will take place an hour prior to the service at church. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Phil’s name can be made to the Harbor Hospice Foundation. Share memories with the family at their On-line Guest Book at www.sytsemafh.com Arrangements by The Walburn Chapel, 1547 W. Sherman Blvd., (231) 759-8565
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