Eugene Darrell Sharp
Oct. 29, 1931-June 10, 2023
Palo Alto, CA
Submitted by Douglas Sharp

Eugene Darrell Sharp October 29, 1931 to June 10, 2023 Eugene was born in Greeley, Co. during the depression. His parents Roy J. Sharp and Flora Sharp nee Hurich lived on his grandparent’s Frank and Barbara Hurich’s Family Farm. Eugene was one of those kids who truly walked through the snow to the schoolhouse down the road from the farm. His brother Nolan was also born in Greeley and Sylvia was born on the farm in Eaton. His father got a job with Westinghouse and did large civil and electrical engineering projects around the country. Eugene spent a few years of elementary school in Arizona near his Aunt Eva and his cousins Warren and Harry. The family then moved to San Leandro and his youngest brother David was born. Soon, they moved to Mt. View where they had two acres of apricots that they cut, dried and sold while his father worked on the installation of the motors for the wind tunnels at Moffett Field. Eugene went to Mt. View High School, joined the school jazz band and built some of his fondest memories. He worked summers picking prunes, cutting ‘cots and enjoying many family trips to Santa Cruz and Seacliff. After graduating in 1949, he spent two years at San Jose State before transferring into the Engineering program at Stanford University. He joined the Air Force ROTC program. His family moved to Tennessee in 1952 where his father worked on the supersonic wind tunnel. Eugene was president of the Tau Beta Pi Society at Stanford earning his key in 1953. He graduated with a B.S. from Stanford in 1954 and a Masters of Engineering in 1956. Eugene met Nancy through his love of dance at Stanford. It helped that Gene was the president of the dance club. They danced together every chance they had. He married Nancy Jane Clark in 1956 at Oneonta Congregational Church in South Pasadena and they honeymooned in Montecito at Miramar. He got notified that he would be posted to the Griffiss SAC base in Rome, NY. Eugene became part of the Antennae Group in the Radar Lab. Their first son Kenneth was born there in 1957. After Eugene’s service was complete, his wife and new son moved to Palo Alto. They bought their home and have been residents ever since. Gene earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering 1962 from Stanford and they had three more sons James, Douglas and Andrew. He began his career at SRI, TRGwest and Granger. Eugene was a founding member in 1968 of TCI where he designed radio communications antennae and became Vice President of Technology. He was very proud of his first antenna he installed near Pt. Reyes. He hand wrote many of his polar graphing equations for his designs. He new his slide rule! While working for TCI, he had trips to Spain, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Africa, Thailand, Samoa, France, Norway and Alert, Canada where he became a member of the ‘Frozen Chosen’. Eugene loved whole his family dearly and visited relatives often. He loved playing Jazz on the clarinet and saxophone. He was a member of numerous environmental groups, organized his high school reunions, joined historical associations of Mt. View and Palo Alto. He was a Scout Master and took his family on many camping trips. He loved the redwoods and his house in Brookdale which was the F.W. Swanton summer cottage which had it’s own train station called Casa Siesta. Nancy and Eugene were married just shy of 67 years. Eugene was predeceased by his beloved son James, father of his grandchildren, Morven and Nora. In the future, Nancy, Ken, Doug and Andrew, daughters-in-law Enid, Bronwen and Amy are planning a memorial service. Rest in peace, Gene. May the horse be with you.

Tags: veteran