"I Stepped Forward."

George Arnold '41

Lockheed Aerospace Researcher, Retired

George Arnold's life has been anything but routine, and that's just the way he wanted it. From military weather forecasting in North Africa during World War II to aerospace research on the Stealth Fighter, George has been a pioneer in operational planning. "I've spent my whole life working on a series of different challenges. When something had never been done before, it was my task to figure out how to do it. I'm grateful that I've never had to work on the same problem twice."

After spending 21 years as an aerospace researcher with Lockheed, George retired in the mid-1970s. But his retirement was short-lived. When plans for the Stealth Fighter got underway, George was called back to provide expertise on the most interesting job of his career. "No one had ever created an aircraft like that before. There were no blueprints to follow. I knew we could save a tremendous number of lives if we could make it work. That's what made the project so important to me."

George credits his solid Geneva College education for his success. "If it weren't for Geneva's emphasis on the fundamentals, I wouldn't have been able to do what I did. The professors drilled us, insisting that we be able to get to solutions from the mathematical basics. Seventy years ago, they taught me how to problem solve. I've been doing it ever since."