Jon D. Frandsen

Jon D. Frandsen, 74, of West Hills, CA, passed away on Sunday, February 7, 2021 at the Los Robles Regional Center, Thousand Oaks, CA.

There will be a visitation from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with a Prayer Service at 12:00 p.m. on Monday, March 1, 2021 at Levander Funeral Home in Albion, NE with Rev. Brian Ketelsen officiating.  Burial will follow at Rose Hill Cemetery, Albion, NE.  There will be a luncheon immediately following at the Albion Veterans Club. To protect the health and safety of others attending, masks are strongly recommended.

It is requested that in memory of Jon any memorials be made to the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 667 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, to put in place the final stained glass window in the chancel of the sanctuary, or a charity of your choosing.

Levander Funeral Home of Albion, NE is in charge of the arrangements.

Jon Darrel Frandsen was born on November 18th, 1946 in Auburn, Washington to John and Loretta (Olson) Frandsen. He was baptized at Kent Lutheran Church in Kent, WA on February 9th, 1947 and confirmed at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Federal Way, WA on May 21st, 1961. He attended Meeker Junior High and graduated from Stadium High School in Tacoma, WA. Jon earned a Bachelor of Science with honors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle on June 14th, 1969 and went on to acquire a Master of Science in Engineering at UCLA on March 21st, 1975.

Jon began his 40 year career in the aerospace industry working summers at the Boeing Company in Seattle and then moved to Los Angeles in 1969 after being hired to the Rocketdyne Division of North American Rockwell for the space program. He worked in research and failure analysis at the Rockwell International Science Center in Thousand Oaks and then with Failure Analysis Associates in Santa Monica. In time, he returned to Rocketdyne and contributed significantly to the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) program until he retired in 2009.

Jon was highly regarded by his colleagues and received numerous awards and recognitions for successful failure analysis and engineering excellence. He was a recipient of the NASA and Rocketdyne Division's Silver Snoopy award (the Astronaut's Personal Achievement Award) and earned the distinction of being a Space Shuttle Launch Honoree, as well as receiving several Rocketdyne President's awards. In 1998 Jon was made an associate member of the Technical Fellowship of the Boeing Company and went on to be inducted as a Pratt & Whitney Fellow for Space Materials in 2007. Finally, in 2009, the highest award conferred among aerospace engineers was bestowed upon Jon when he received The Stellar Award- the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement.

In 1976, while working under Dr. Otto Buck in the MTS lab of the Science Center, Jon met Rebecca J. Richards who was doing a semester of graduate research in the lab under Dr. Buck. On May 23rd, 1981, they were married at Zion Lutheran Church in Albion, Nebraska. They made their home together in West Hills, CA, both working for Rockwell International and attending Redeemer Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks, CA

Jon is described as quiet, intelligent, and always having a twinkle in his eye. He was a lifelong car enthusiast and always had a project in the works – an Austin-Healy, or Jaguar, or El Camino, or Chevelle, or Ford Coupe, or an MGTD, or his beloved Corvette. He also enjoyed the beach, picnics, hikes in the great outdoors, and road trips in the U.S. and Canada. And if you asked, he would always say he was just "putzing" on this or that. Putz away Jon while you wait for us in eternity.

Jon is survived by and will be sorely missed by his wife Rebecca of West Hills and sister-in-law Rhonda Richards of Sparks, Maryland along with other relatives and beloved friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents and several aunts and uncles.