James D. Andrew, 84, a former longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, died peacefully at his Solana Beach home on June 18. Funeral services were held at the Mission of San Luis Rey in Oceanside. Born in Lakewood, Ohio, Jim attended Case Institute of Technology, where he earned an engineering degree. General Electric hired him out of college, just as he was engaged to Lois Jeannette Zurlinden of Cleveland, who shared his life for 62 years. They were married January 24, 1942, and Jim was promptly sent on assignment to Nevada to work on the final stages of the construction of Boulder Dam. Four children and new job assignments followed in quick succession as the Andrew family moved to Evansville, Cincinnati, Schenectady, Dayton, Detroit and Adrian. In 1953, Jim drove everyone from Michigan to California along Route 66, and they settled in the Palisades. He had been hired by Douglas Aircraft Corporation, but later also held exciting jobs at Space Technology Laboratories, Planning Research Corporation and TRW. He specialized in communication and encryption, which made much of his work top secret. However, a memorable and highly public moment occurred in 1972 when the Mariner spacecraft orbited Mars, sending back the first pictures from any planet’at four bits of information per second. Jim, in charge of that transmission, stood in the big room at Jet Propulsion Laboratories as the screen gradually filled in with the image of Mars. Given the intensity with which he pursued his occupation, many were surprised when, at age 60, Jim opted to retire, although for years he accepted consulting jobs. After moving to the Palisades, the Andrew family doubled in size and the eight children eventually dispersed around the globe. While maintaining close ties to Corpus Christi parish in retirement, Jim also recorded technical books for the blind and coached youth baseball teams’in addition to pursuing the temptation and frustration of golf. He and Lois also traveled to Greece, Spain, France, England, Mexico and Japan, often meeting up with their children. The couple moved to Solana Beach in 1986, where they joined the Lomas Santa Fe country club. Jim and Lois loved their new environment and were welcomed by the parish at Saint James, and a wealth of friends in the area. They greatly enjoyed their 50th wedding anniversary, which began with a carefully orchestrated surprise family reunion in Iowa during a snowy Christmas and culminated in a party at Lomas Santa Fe in early 1992. Two years later, despite a regular regimen of exercise, Jim suffered a stroke that left him completely incapacitated. Although confined to a bed and wheelchair, he saw and heard everything around him and interacted in his inimitable way with his wife, two caretakers, and all the visiting children and grandchildren. Jim is survived by wife Lois; brother Charles; daughters Patricia (husband Antonio) Andrade of Mexico City, Annette (Tom) Lesher of McKinleyville and Marcia (Ramon) Camacho of Forest Grove, Oregon; sons Dudley (Stephanie) of New Haven, Connecticut, Paul (Kyoko) of Ibaraki, Japan, Russell (Deborah) of Paso Robles, Mark (Debra) of Aurora and Philip (Michele) of Encinitas; 20 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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