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- Philadelphia Daily News, PA, Friday, April 18, 2008
Aaron C. Bass, 87, served as engineer in WWII
AARON C. BASS, a civil aeronautical engineer for the Naval Air Development Center in Bucks County, an Army veteran of World War II, an active community leader and a devoted churchman, died Sunday. He was 87 and lived in Cheltenham.
He was born in Jackson, Tenn., the second of the three children of Charlie U. Bass and Mayflower Spencer. He received his early education there, then attended Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Ala.
While in college, he joined the ROTC and took flight training, learning to fly Piper Cubs. He was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the legendary all-black group of pilots who distinguished themselves in the war.
He later enrolled at Drexel Institute of Technology, now Drexel University, for graduate studies.
During the war, Aaron served as an electrical engineer with the 43rd Signal Battalion of the 12th Army Group. He was discharged in 1945.
Aaron met Lorraine Smith during a leave from the Army and they were married on June 25, 1949.
He began his civilian career working for the former Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia. He was transferred to the Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, where he worked as an engineer in the development and design of environmental-test facilities in the Aeronautical Electronics Laboratory.
He was promoted to operations-research analyst in the systems department. He specialized in aeronautical electronics, research and development, with emphasis on stress levels on electronics systems in naval aircraft.
Later, he became a troubleshooter for private industry.
Aaron was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Germantown, where he sang in the choir and taught Sunday school. Later, he attended First Presbyterian Church in Germantown.
He was a member of the Institute of Environmental Sciences, the Society of Logistics Engineers and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
Aaron was active in his community. He was a president of the LaMott Community Center and a member of the Citizen Advisory Committee of the Cheltenham School Board, participated in long-range planning for the Cheltenham School District, and was former health-and-safety chairman of the Boy Scouts' Tookany District of the Valley Forge Council.
He also was chairman and organizer of the Cheltenham High School Band Boosters and was a township auxiliary police officer.
He was manager of the Yankees of the Old York Road Little League and led the team to a championship year. He was a member of the Cheltenham Historical Commission and member and chairman of the Cheltenham Historical Architectural Review Board.
"Aaron was conscientious, dedicated, industrious, hard-working, caring, giving and loving," his family said in an obituary. "He cared about his family, church and community, where he often was referred to as 'a perfect gentleman.' "
Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons, Aaron Jr. and Laurent; two sisters, Sarah Young and Alvada Jackson; five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Services : 10 a.m. tomorrow at First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Germantown and Chelten avenues. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Hillside Cemetery, Roslyn.
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Bassett Family Association Database
- 2008
d. Mar 1978, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania