- George was born in Eau Claire, WI on March 7th, 1932. He was the first of four children of Esther (Krenz) and George Akin. As a child, George spent his early years in Hortonville, WI and graduated from Hortonville High School in 1950. He excelled in the classroom, was senior class president, and was selected Male Athlete of his class.
He then attended Oshkosh State College and after two years he transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated there with a major in Mathematics.
He then joined the United States Army for two years and served in Japan. After his service there, he again enrolled in the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned his Master's Degree in Mathematics.
He was a talented mathematician and was immediately hired by General Motors in Milwaukee. There he was asked to become more familiar with their computers. Without any training in computer science in college, he learned about computers after graduation by reading, listening and attending weekend or week-long training sessions about that new science.
He then became, at a young age, the Chairman of the General Motors Computer Department that later merged with Delco Electronics and finally, before his retirement, they merged with Electronic Data Systems, headed by Ross Perot.
George was a computer pioneer doing research in planning traveling in space. Our nation's President then, John Kennedy, stated that he wanted this country to send our people to the moon.
George's computer department designed the precision guidance and navigation for the Apollo programs as the United States developed plans for landing on the moon. They worked with gyroscopes that signaled to the system's computer to measure changes in altitude, speed, and direction. The Apollo program had 6 successful landings on the moon.
George was given many awards for his contributions to the many Apollo flights that allowed men to be on the moon. One of the awards that he has is a medallion composed of metal from both the American Apollo space vehicle along with the Russian spaceship Soyuz that joined together in the first International Space Mission.
When the Apollo projects finished, George worked on developing computers in automobiles.
When George retired he moved to Lake Largo in Green Bay. During his retirement, he enjoyed his alma mater Wisconsin Badgers play football and basketball. He also enjoyed watching the Milwaukee Braves and now the Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Green Bay Packers.
His family had a cottage on Arbutus Lake in northern Wisconsin. George was a good trout fisherman on the Wolf River and other streams near the cottage. He also enjoyed fishing and boating on the lake. He enjoyed hiking in the woods and watching the birds near the cottage. He also hand-carved very high quality wooden duck decoys.
Some of his retirement was researching the history of his family. It took a long time for him to find the information that he put into two thick and accurate detailed books about his father's and previous generations.
George became a serious collector of historic information involving long-gone breweries in Wisconsin and the Midwest. He collected vintage beer labels, coasters, and signs. He wrote articles and helped others that had similar interests. He won two national awards for his contributions to the sharing of knowledge of breweries.
George is survived by two sisters, Carolyn Kubitz of Hilton Head, SC, and Susan (John) Nielsen of Alliance, OH and his brother Ron (Kenlynn) Akin of Oshkosh, WI.
He also has nieces and nephews that are Kim (Tom) Sockman of Bowling Green, Oh, Cathy Kubitz (Tree Holwager) of Matthew, NC, Steve (Toni) Nielsen of Boise, ID, Christine (Chris) Nathe of Albuquerque, NM, Anne (Matt) Brown of North Canton, OH, David (Paula) Akin of De Pere, WI, Dan (Judy) Akin of Marshfield, WI, and Julie (Peter) Steinert of Kohler, WI. His grand nieces and nephews are Rhen, Marissa, and Chad Nathe, Zachary and Nicholas Akin, Ben and Christian Steinert, Jacob and Chelsea Akin, Faith Brown, Brent and Chris Sockman and Peg Sockman-Hoffman.
He was predeceased by his parents, George and Esther Akin of Hortonville and a brother in law, Charles Kubitz, of Hilton Head, SC.
A funeral service for George will be held at 2 PM on July 30th at Calvary Lutheran Church in Oshkosh. Rev. Timothy Routh will officiate. Visitation will begin at 12:00 until the time of the service. Internment that will take place at the Union Cemetery in Hortonville on Monday, on the 1st of August at 9 AM.
Memorials given will be for the Akin Family Scholarship. Each year the Akin family gives a generous scholarship to a graduating senior from Hortonville High School, who had demonstrated excellence in service, academics, character and leadership.
George's family would like to thank the help that was given to George by the caring staffs of Bellevue Assisted Living in De Pere, Bella Vista Assisted Living in Oshkosh and Windsor Medical Center in North Canton, Ohio.
Published in Appleton Post-Crescent on July 27, 2016
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1932 - Abt 2016 (84 years)
Education - High School
