Harold Oad Gatlin || Obituary
Harold served his country with distinction in the Korean War as a member of the U.S. Air Force. Following his military service, he worked in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he gathered nuclear testing data for the Atomic Energy Commission and supported flights of the X-15 and other experimental aircraft.
In 1963, the National Science Foundation accepted Harold as a member of the U.S. expedition to Antarctica, where he collected atmospheric data for multiple research organizations. In recognition of his accomplishments and as one of the few people to have traveled to both poles at that time, a glacier in Antarctica was named Gatlin Glacier in his honor.
After leaving the South Pole, Harold worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center, where he provided meteorological support for static tests of the Saturn V Rocket. In 1968, he took a position at the Alaska Region Weather Bureau, where he played a key role in weather support for airborne resupply missions to Vietnam. As a pilot, Harold flew essential supplies to remote villages in the Alaskan bush. It was in Alaska that he met the love of his life, Donna Burton.
The couple bought a working cattle ranch in Big Fork, Minnesota. In 1976, they returned to Texas, where Harold supported wind research at the Texas A&M Research Farm in West Texas. Later, they moved to Powderly, Texas, where Harold worked as a loan officer for farmers and ranchers until his retirement.
Harold is survived by his beloved wife, Donna; his daughter, Suzy; his son Glenn; and his son Jeff, along with Jeff’s wife, Becca, and their children, Austin and Maegan.
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