Richard "Dick" Earl Mayo

Memorial Services for Dick Mayo will be held on Saturday, October 14th 2023, at 11:30 am  at Clarke Venable Baptist Church, Decatur, MS with Pastor Mark Vincent officiating. Robert Barham Family Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with arrangements.

Mr. Richard Earl (Dick) Mayo, age 88, of Decatur, Mississippi passed away on August 21, 2023, at Anderson Hospital in Meridian.

He was born July 20, 1935, in Meridian, Mississippi at Anderson Hospital, to Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Mayo. He spent his childhood in Meridian, moving to Decatur, Mississippi after World War II when he was in 7th grade.

Dick graduated from Decatur High School in 1953 as valedictorian. He studied pre-engineering at East Central Junior College, graduating at the top of his class in 1955 and was selected for Phi Theta Kappa. He joined the Mississippi Air National Guard to serve his country and to save money to finish his engineering degree. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Mississippi Air National Guard during this time.

After completing his active-duty time in the National Guard, he married Betty Jean Addy and enrolled in the University of Mississippi in 1957. He graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1959. Soon after graduation, he began work for NASA at Langley Research Center in Virginia. He and Betty welcomed son Jeff, in 1960. The family moved to Texas in 1962 where Dick supported efforts to put a man on the moon; they settled in Dickinson, Texas, in 1964. Dick's early work with NASA was on the Lunar Module that landed astronauts on the moon's surface. He transitioned to work with Crew Systems, where he focused on life support and space suit design and engineering. In the late 1960's he was sent to Cape Kennedy for two years to work on space suits and life support systems for Apollo astronauts, including the Apollo 11 mission which put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. He and Betty welcomed son Jack, in 1969. He returned to Texas in late 1969 and was soon part of the team that helped bring the Apollo 13 astronauts back to Earth safely. His team received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work which was later recognized as one of the nation's outstanding feats of engineering.

In late 1971, he was selected for a Sloan Fellowship for Graduate Studies at Stanford University. After his studies at Stanford, Dick and his family returned to Texas in 1972 and put down roots in the community; they joined First Baptist Church of Dickinson, Texas, where Dick served as a deacon, committee member, Sunday School teacher, and choir member.

Soon after returning to Texas, Dick was selected to work on the Apollo/Soyuz mission. He traveled to Russia to coordinate with their Cosmonaut program on life support systems. After the successful Apollo/Soyuz mission in 1975, Dick took charge of the engineering directorate for the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he was responsible for the design, construction, and maintenance of all facilities at Johnson Space Center, White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, and contractor operated facilities where the Space Shuttle was built in Downey and Palmdale, California. During his tenure, the Lunar Curatorial Facility was constructed; rocks returned from the lunar surface are stored there. Toward the end of his 33-year career, he was heavily involved with space shuttle operations and the development and launch of the International Space Station. He was awarded the Nasa Exceptional Service Medal upon his retirement.

Dick and Betty moved back to Mississippi in 2005 following his retirement. Once settled in Decatur, they became active members of Clark Venable Baptist Church, where Dick and Betty led a Senior Adult Sunday School class for many years.

While he accomplished much in his career, Dick was always focused on his family and was always involved in Jeff and Jack's school, church, band and Boy Scout activities. He is survived by his devoted wife, Betty; the two of them had been married 66 years at the time of his passing. He leaves his two sons, Jeff Mayo and his wife, Stacey, of Woodbridge, VA and Jack Mayo and his wife, Tracey, of Round Rock, Texas; four grandchildren: Ben Mayo and his wife, Maggie, of Omaha, Nebraska, Walter Mayo of Aurora, CO, Emily Miller and her husband, Chase, of Georgetown, Texas, and Connor Mayo, of Round Rock, Texas. He and Betty have one great-granddaughter, Fiona Mayo, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Dick was preceded in death by his parents, Otto B. and Virginia M. Mayo; his older brother Jack B. Mayo, sister Betty Lee Comegys, and younger brother Dale E. Mayo.

The family suggests memorial contributions are shared with Clarke Venable Baptist Church in Decatur, Mississippi.