Lasting Memories

Eugene John Micek
1932-Aug. 1, 2025
Palo Alto, California
Submitted by Brian Micek

The charm of Eugene John Micek of Palo Alto, California and Perdido Key, Florida, a proud veteran of the 11th Airborne, satellite contractor, private pilot and a globetrotting raconteur, faded peacefully from this world on August 1, 2025, a few weeks shy of his 93rd birthday.

He is survived by his devoted wife of 57 years, Sonia Lisette Micek of Palo Alto, California, daughter Gina A. Micek of St. Paul, Minnesota, and son Brian E. Micek and daughter-in-law Sydney Edwards, and grandsons Theodore and Oliver Micek of Rocklin, California.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1932, Gene was raised in Pensacola, Florida by his single father, John S. Micek. Imbued with the early economic hardship of the Great Depression, Gene went to work at the age of 10. His first job as a bowling pin setter led to the purchase of a bicycle, which he then used to deliver the Pensacola News Journal for the remainder of childhood. After contributing to household expenses, he saved a nickel for himself to attend the movies, a lifelong beloved pastime (although he frequently lamented the escalation of popcorn and ticket prices).

Despite academic challenges and a nun that told him he wouldn’t amount to much, he graduated from Pensacola Catholic High School in 1951. Following a year in Omaha working alongside Polish family members in the meat packing industry, a low draft number motivated enlistment in the Army to take advantage of its career technical education, ultimately launching an aerospace career devoted to the defense of the United States. Graduating top of his class in radio communications school earned Gene access to Officers Candidate School, but an Army doctor proclaimed his flat feet were not fit for the marching expected of officers. In defiance of this diagnosis, as well as to collect extra jump pay, he volunteered for the rigor of the Airborne. Following jump school at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Gene joined the 11th Airborne in Germany on the frontlines of the Cold War. He proudly proclaimed the motto, “Airborne, All the Way!” though his final days.

Following honorable discharge, Gene received a quick job offer from Philco Ford (later Ford Aerospace) as a “Tech Rep,” assisting various branches of the military and national security administration in installing and managing spy satellite antennas around the world. In 1963 he helped build Indian Ocean Station (IOS) on the Seychelles Islands, where he met and courted Sonia. They were married in 1968 following Gene’s reassignment to Ford’s Western Development Labs in Palo Alto. Additional assignments included moves to Manchester, NH, Twentynine Palms, CA, Harrogate, England and back to Palo Alto.

The classified nature of his work left some stories untold, but highlights included being onsite when IOS detected China’s first nuclear test, installing comms equipment in Egypt on assignment for the CIA leading up to the Camp David Accords, and regular trips via Pan American Airlines with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist while escorting atomic clocks from various tracking stations to California for repair or calibration. He was at Vandenberg AFB during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and recalled it as the scariest moment of his career.

In addition to spycraft, other experiences produced stories that held captive audiences at dinner parties the world over. In 1961 he and two friends flew his Beechcraft Bonanza under the Golden Gate Bridge. In ‘81 he developed Sharp Reef, a five unit townhouse on Perdido Key. By ‘86 he served as general and electrical contractor of his family home in Palo Alto. On his 60th birthday in 1992 he made his final recreational skydive. In 2010, at age 78 he successfully passed his FAA Jet Type Rating.

That he lived as long as he did is somewhat of a miracle, given a litany of near-death experiences. He survived a motorcycle wreck after high school where a bystander proclaimed, “I think he’s dead!” While enlisted, he survived a knife wound to his left arm during a barfight in Germany and in Japan he missed his scheduled departure on a military transport that was later destroyed in a midair collision. There was a bad car crash in rural Alaska in the late 50s, two significant parachute gear failures during his recreational skydiving days, at least three gear-up general aviation landings in 1996, 2010 and 2011 and lymphoma in his eighties.

He was an avid fan of Stanford Cardinal Football, the Airborne’s calisthenics regimen, spicy food, dinner plates with abundant sauce, Time and Forbes magazines, World War II history, anything and everything to do with aviation, and he carried a profound and deeply patriotic respect for the American worker.

In honor of the skilled trades, Gene endowed the Micek Family Scholarship at Pensacola Catholic High for students needing financial assistance with career technical education.