Stanley East

Prayer service for Stan East, 63, of Bent will be Thursday, Jan. 29, at 7:00 PM in St. Eleanor's Catholic Church in Ruidoso where the funeral mass will be on Friday, Jan. 30, at 10:00 AM. Burial will follow at the Ruidoso Hondo Valley Cemetery near Ruidoso Downs. Mr. East passed away Saturday, Jan. 24, in Alamogordo. He was born June 2, 1945 at Pasedena, California to Stanley and Ellen East who both precede him in death. He moved to Otero County on October 1, 1981 from Helena, Montana. He had served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He earned a Masters degree in Education from New Mexico State University. Mr. East married Sandy Steckler on July 27, 1968 at Helena, Montana. For the past 28 years Mr. East career was devoted to the development and testing of High Energy Laser Weapon Systems located at the Army's High Energy Laser System Test FacilityHELSTF, White Sands, New Mexico. In 1980, Senior Chief Petty Officer East was transferred to the Navy's White Sands Directed Energy Weapons Detachment and was assigned the responsibilty of technical liaison to Hughes Aircraft Company, Hughes was developing a megawatt class High Energy Laser Beam Director for the Navy. Following his retirement from the Navy in 1985, he joined the Hughes HELSTF engineering team responsible for directing the Navy's megawatt class Mid Infrared Advanced Chemical LaserMIRACL to targets of interest. His most recent empolyment was with the Army's HELSTF Directorate; he was the Principal Project Engineer in charge of overseeing the testing of a mobile laser weapoin system. During his HELSTF career, he witnessed the laser weapon destruction of in-flight drone aircraft, cruise missiles, rockets, and mortars. Mr. East is survived by his wife, Sandy of Bent; a son, Lt. Edward East of San Antonio, Texas; two daugthers, Sharlene Howell of Albuquerque and Sarah East of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; 6 grandchildren, Brittney East, Cassandra East, Austin East, Joshua Howell, Shiri' Howell, and Gavin Brumana; 4 sisters, Rose Anne Wellman, Ida Mae Pruitt, Christine Ullman and Barbara Klein. He was preceded in death by a granddaughter, Destiney East.

Service

Prayer Service

St. Eleanors Catholic Church
120 Junction Road
Ruidoso, NM  88345
Thursday, January 29, 2009
7:00 PM

Funeral Mass

St. Eleanors Catholic Church
120 Junction Road
Ruidoso, NM  88345
Friday, January 30, 2009
10:00 AM

Cemetery

Ruidoso Hondo Valley Cemetery
MM 267.5 on U.S. Highway 70
Ruidoso Downs, NM  88346