Robert Gose

Robert Oren Gose, 98, stepped into Eternity while with his beloved wife, Elaine, at home in Littleton, Colorado on Tuesday, September 15, 2020.

Robert was born December 9, 1921 in Upton, Wyoming.  He loved ranching in his native state of Wyoming, but left to join the United States Army Air Force on July 4, 1942.  He served as a flight instructor before being assigned to a B-24 group as a bomber pilot where he flew combat missions as First Lieutenant and lead combat pilot in the 8th Air Force, flying missions out of England until the war ended in 1945.  During the Korean Conflict, he served as a flight instructor and test pilot, responsible for managing Air Force advanced development in rocketry.

Robert highly valued education, going from a one-room schoolhouse in the ranch yard to being an Institute Scholar while getting his Master of Science degree in Jet Propulsion Engineering at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1955.

Robert’s career spanned the aerospace and energy industries and included work with Phillips Petroleum, JPL, Space Technology Laboratories (STL), and TRW. While with TRW, he led the team for the direction, design, development, demonstration, and deployment of the MINUTEMAN I, II and III ICBM Weapon Systems for the U.S. Air Force.  In 1968, he was a part of a NASA  team to review the Kennedy Space Center readiness for manned launches and flights of the Apollo missions, and he was a part of a team to review the man rating of the Apollo LM Descent Engine.  This team devised the “alternative mission” condition which later was activated during the failed Apollo 13 mission in 1970, successfully propelling the astronauts back to Earth.

Robert retired to ranching in Wyoming in 1979.  He served as joint chair and CEO of the Wyoming Business Council in Cheyenne before he and Elaine moved to Texas to be close to friends and family in 2011.  Robert and Elaine later joined their daughter and son-in-law in Colorado to be closer to mountains and grandsons in 2018.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Vivienne Elaine Hebard Gose, his daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn Gose and Paul Foster, and his grandsons, Robert Christian Foster, Joshua Allen Foster, and Jonathan Michael Foster.  He is preceded in death by his son, Robert Verne Gose.

Services will be held at 10:00 on Monday, September 28, 2020 at Horan McConaty, 3101 S. Wadsworth Blvd., CO.  Interment will be at 9:00 on Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at Fort Logan National Cemetery.