Fred's History
Gone But Not Forgotten
Frederick Tedesco, United States Air Force Academy Class of 1964, died Thursday Oct. 25, 2001 of a heart attack in Huntsville, AL. He was the husband of Lynda Tedesco.
He was born in Torrington, CN. Oct. 22, 1942, the son of the late Nicholas and Ellen (Rosati) Tedesco. Major Tedesco, a 1960 graduate of Torrington High School, received his bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering and commission in 1964 upon graduating from the United States Air Force Academy with the Class of 1964. He also earned a master's degree in nuclear engineering in 1975 from the Air Force institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War, serving 20 years in the military. His decorations included The Distinguished Flying Cross, The Meritorious Service Medal, The Air Force Commendation and ten Air Medals. In 1976, while assigned to the B-1 SPO, Major Tedesco's team was selected to receive the Robert J. Collier Trophy for successfully producing and demonstrating the B-1 Strategic Bomber. Previous winners include such aviation pioneers as Glen Curtiss, Orville Wright, Glenn Martin, Howard Hughes, and General H. H. Arnold; and such aircraft as the DC-2, B-52, Boeing 747 and F-16.
After retiring from the Air Force in 1986, he joined Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, AL to work on systems to support the U.S. Army's Strategic Defense Command. In 1989, he manned the survivability program for the development of a new main battle tank to replace the aging M-1 Abraham. The program encompassed design to ensure adequate survivability and operability against nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
In 1994, he became project manager of the rapid response system, which is a mobile system used for processing and neutralization of chemical agents that were used to train soldiers, sailors and airmen to recognize hazardous chemicals, to detect them, and to decontaminate equipment that was exposed to these chemicals. Survivors include his wife, Lynda Tedesco; two daughters, Lisa Moore and Becky Tedesco; a son, Paul Tedesco, all of Huntsville; a sister, Eileen Tedesco of Sharon, CN; a brother, Edward Tedesco of Torrington, CN; and two grandchildren.
The funeral was held October 29, 2001 at Valley Fellowship Church in Huntsville, AL followed by burial in the Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville.
(Ed Tedesco, Gone But Not Forgotten, Checkpoints, Winter 2002)
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