David L. Wilson

David L. Wilson (Carey) Beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother, David L. Wilson, passed away peacefully on Friday, May 23, 2014. He was preceded in death by his son, Randall D. Wilson. He leaves behind his wife of 66 years, Mary Jane; 3 daughters, Kathleen Owsley and husband Randy, Barbara Van Bibber and husband David, and Cynthia Glos and husband George; 11 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; two brothers, Neil Wilson and wife Sharon and Steven Carey and wife Anne; sister Carole Myers; and many more family members and friends. The son of Rita Gray and Jerome Carey, David was born July 18, 1927 in Springfield, MO. When his mother remarried, he was assigned his stepfather�s last name, Wilson, but later used his original name as an author and speaker on Near Death Experiences and the Afterlife. His early childhood was spent trouping the Southwest with his grandparents� tent show, the Musical Grays, and drifting around oil boom camps with his stepfather. In 1943, the family moved to Albuquerque where David worked as a waiter in the Fred Harvey dining room at the famous old Alvarado Hotel while attending high school. In 1944, he spent the summer fighting forest fires in Idaho for the U.S. Forest Service. Upon returning to Albuquerque, he graduated from Albuquerque High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was scheduled for landing craft duty in the invasion of Japan when the war was ended by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He served as a warehouse foreman at Naval Aviation Supply Depot 3149 in the Philippines during demobilization and shipment of material to Bikini Atoll to support Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons tests. After his discharge from the Navy, he attended the University of New Mexico briefly and married his high school sweetheart, Mary Jan Tatom. In 1947, he went to work for what then was known as the Manhattan Project and was later renamed the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP), the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA) in 1961, and the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) in 1971. He rose through civil service ranks to become the agency�s chief logistician, responsible for staff management of logistics at seven storage depots, Nevada Test Site, Johnston Atoll Test Site, and Enewetak Atoll Test Site. Much of his work was on Top Secret missions and projects, including storage, shipment, and demilitarization of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and logistics support of nuclear weapons tests and nuclear weapons effects tests. His favorite project was unclassified. He was the command project officer for planning and accomplishing the radiological cleanup for Enewetak Atoll Nuclear Test Site in the Marshall Islands so that the Enewetak People could return safely to their home islands after a 33 year absence. For his work on the project, he earned the peoples� affection and the Defense Department�s highest civilian medal. The report he compiled on the radiological cleanup project was later used by the Russian government in its radiological cleanup of its nuclear weapons test site in the republic of Kazakhastan. In 1983, after 36 years with the agency during which he earned 26 Sustained Superior and Outstanding Performance awards, he retired to devote more time to genealogy and private studies, including Near Death Experiences (NDEs) and the Afterlife. In 1990, David completed writing and privately publishing a book, The Oneness, in an endeavor to provide a semblance of the Near Death Experience of reality and the Afterlife based on his own experiences and years of research. The family expresses their sincere gratitude to the caring doctors and staff of UNM Neurological ICU. Private family services will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Animal Humane Association, 615 Virginia St. SE, 87108.