Obituary for Kenneth Everett Mayo
Kenneth Everett Mayo, 93, died on Friday, December 9 at Fairview Rehabilitation in Hudson, NH after a brief illness. A resident of Nashua for more than 65 years, Mr. Mayo was born in Orange, MA, son of Howard A. Mayo and Dorothy Ordway Mayo, both deceased.
Mr. Mayo grew up in Bolton, MA, and graduated from Worcester Academy and Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Worcester, MA. He had a long career as a mechanical engineer and engineering consultant. Graduating from engineering school as the Korean War loomed, Mr. Mayo took a job with the engineering firm Chas T. Main in Boston, MA and was assigned to work in what was then the frontier field of nuclear engineering, developing the plutonium nuclear reactor site at Hanford, WA as it expanded for the war effort.
In 1952, Mr. Mayo married Jeanne Jewett of Nashua, now deceased, and the young couple moved to Hanford. They returned to make their home in Nashua in 1955, and shortly thereafter, he took a job with what was then a small, start-up defense and space contractor Sanders Associates (now part of BAE Systems Electronics and Integrated Solutions), again working on cutting-edge engineering for the U.S. defense and intelligence services. He made his career with Sanders Associates until the late 1960’s, when he became one of the founders of a spin-off firm, Sanders Nuclear Corp., as a collaboration between Sanders Associates and Cambridge Nuclear Corp. That company worked on developing small nuclear power sources for remote situations, such as heating Navy diver suits for arctic conditions.
Later, he became a private engineering consultant, with projects that included developing small hydro-electric power sites, modification of historic structures, and forensic engineering.
Mr. Mayo was a man of many talents and enthusiasms, and he contributed his time generously to many local civic and charitable causes. He was a member of the Board of the Nashua Symphony, the Nashua Arts & Science Center, and the Unitarian Church of Nashua, where he also sang in the choir and taught Sunday School. He was a member of the Nashua ActorSingers. He was active in the Nashua chapter of the New Hampshire League of Craftsmen. He also served several terms as a member of the NH Governor’s Advisory Council on Nuclear Energy.
He was an instructor of courses at the Rivier Institute for Senior Education (RISE) at Rivier College in Nashua, and also was an enthusiastic student of RISE programs. His hobbies ranged from gardening (including collecting and propagating orchids and carnivorous plants) and flower-arranging (he studied the Japanese art of ikebana), to woodworking (he built fine furniture), pottery (he maintained a pottery studio and kiln), the restoration of antique automobiles, sculpting, watercolor painting, and coin collecting. He collected and performed research on antique coins and was a member of a private society devoted to the study of ancient coins and their historic contexts.
Mr. Mayo is survived by his children and their spouses, Steven J. Mayo and Virginia Mayo of Merrimack, NH and Mary Anne Mayo and Stephen J. Nelson of New Haven, CT, and by his grandchildren, Parker Mayo Kraus, Jason Jewett Mayo, and Jillian Lorraine Mayo.
SERVICES: There are no services scheduled at this time. The Davis Funeral Home, 1 Lock St, Nashua, NH, has been placed in charge of arrangements. (603)883-3401 “ONE MEMORY LIGHTS ANOTHER.”
Mr. Mayo grew up in Bolton, MA, and graduated from Worcester Academy and Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Worcester, MA. He had a long career as a mechanical engineer and engineering consultant. Graduating from engineering school as the Korean War loomed, Mr. Mayo took a job with the engineering firm Chas T. Main in Boston, MA and was assigned to work in what was then the frontier field of nuclear engineering, developing the plutonium nuclear reactor site at Hanford, WA as it expanded for the war effort.
In 1952, Mr. Mayo married Jeanne Jewett of Nashua, now deceased, and the young couple moved to Hanford. They returned to make their home in Nashua in 1955, and shortly thereafter, he took a job with what was then a small, start-up defense and space contractor Sanders Associates (now part of BAE Systems Electronics and Integrated Solutions), again working on cutting-edge engineering for the U.S. defense and intelligence services. He made his career with Sanders Associates until the late 1960’s, when he became one of the founders of a spin-off firm, Sanders Nuclear Corp., as a collaboration between Sanders Associates and Cambridge Nuclear Corp. That company worked on developing small nuclear power sources for remote situations, such as heating Navy diver suits for arctic conditions.
Later, he became a private engineering consultant, with projects that included developing small hydro-electric power sites, modification of historic structures, and forensic engineering.
Mr. Mayo was a man of many talents and enthusiasms, and he contributed his time generously to many local civic and charitable causes. He was a member of the Board of the Nashua Symphony, the Nashua Arts & Science Center, and the Unitarian Church of Nashua, where he also sang in the choir and taught Sunday School. He was a member of the Nashua ActorSingers. He was active in the Nashua chapter of the New Hampshire League of Craftsmen. He also served several terms as a member of the NH Governor’s Advisory Council on Nuclear Energy.
He was an instructor of courses at the Rivier Institute for Senior Education (RISE) at Rivier College in Nashua, and also was an enthusiastic student of RISE programs. His hobbies ranged from gardening (including collecting and propagating orchids and carnivorous plants) and flower-arranging (he studied the Japanese art of ikebana), to woodworking (he built fine furniture), pottery (he maintained a pottery studio and kiln), the restoration of antique automobiles, sculpting, watercolor painting, and coin collecting. He collected and performed research on antique coins and was a member of a private society devoted to the study of ancient coins and their historic contexts.
Mr. Mayo is survived by his children and their spouses, Steven J. Mayo and Virginia Mayo of Merrimack, NH and Mary Anne Mayo and Stephen J. Nelson of New Haven, CT, and by his grandchildren, Parker Mayo Kraus, Jason Jewett Mayo, and Jillian Lorraine Mayo.
SERVICES: There are no services scheduled at this time. The Davis Funeral Home, 1 Lock St, Nashua, NH, has been placed in charge of arrangements. (603)883-3401 “ONE MEMORY LIGHTS ANOTHER.”