This was my next door neighbors my entire childhood, I have been to the museum of science in Boston with this family probably 20 or more times (we were all members). That trip to Prince Edward Island, I remember that because they drove and on the way back they stopped at our camp here in Maine for a month with us. This isn't just an acquaintance, this is someone who was very influential in my life.
Imagine my shock reading that, I never knew but then growing up what he did was not something I was going to understand, I was quite fortunate to grow up as I did. Reading that I have to add my dad was also an expert on gyroscopes, he invented machines for Raytheon to test gryoscopes...I just now actually had a memory of my dads 50th, my dad and Frank were born on the same day (feb 5th)...my dad got a toy gyroscope top as a gag gift and he gave it to me...holy f**k...I GET IT dad was born in 1921, so that was just about 50 years ago
Frank E. Gauntt of Bedford, MA, was born in New York and died on May 5, 2020. He passed quietly in his sleep. He was 89 years old.
A 60-year resident of Bedford, Frank is survived by his wife of 60 years, Kathleen McCarthy Gauntt, his three children and their spouses, David and his wife, Yvonne, Birmingham, AL, Brian and his wife, Karen, Pensacola, FL, and Janine. Grandfather of Alexa Bell, Elizabeth Gauntt, Bianca and her husband Trey Perkins, Margaret Gauntt, and Patricia Gauntt. Frank was the son of the late Corinne (Arsenault) and Frank Gauntt and brother of Robert Gauntt of Palo Alto, CA. Also survived by several nieces and nephews.
After graduating from MIT, Frank went to work at the MIT Instrumentation Lab in Cambridge, now known as Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. At Draper, he invented a method known as pulse width modulation to control gyroscopes now used worldwide in many other applications. He was honored by NASA for his work at Draper in making the space shuttle Data Processing System (DPS) the most successful example of a fault-tolerant computer system being used in a critical application. His greatest professional pride was working at Draper on the Apollo Guidance System.
Frank served with the 1st Army Division in Germany during the Korean War where he ran with a local German track club, the Würzburg Kickers.
Frank enjoyed traveling and traveled to Prince Edward Island, home of his mother’s birth, to Hawaii, where he discovered his love of steel drum music, as well as to the Virgin Islands to sail around the Islands with friends and to some of the National Parks. He traveled to Ireland when he was stationed in Germany in the 50’s. Frank also loved playing chess.
He had a love of music, which he instilled in his children. Though he could neither sing well nor play a musical instrument, all three of his children learned to play an instrument and sing.
A life member of Woburn Sportsman Club, Bedford, Frank taught firearm safety courses.
Frank was also an avid chess player.
