David & Marilyn Hartman

Hurricane Camille struck the MS Gulf Coast August, 1969. There were few working phones even in late October.  Marilyn and a coworker at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture in Gulfport stopped after church to use a friend’s working phone. They were surprised by the presence of two weekend houseguests, Pensacola based Naval aviators in training from “gasp”…Southern California.

Born in Chicago, David’s family moved to Santa Ana, CA when he was 11.  From Northrop Institute of Technology, he had earned an Aerospace Engineering BS degree. Whereas Marilyn grew up in rural southern MS about 60 miles from the Coast. She came from a musical family and at the age of 14 was her church’s organist. She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a BS degree in Chemistry.

After initial carrier qualification, David proposed to Marilyn on his way to advanced multiengine training at Corpus Christi, TX. That chance meeting in October led to the July 1970 marriage of 52 years.

David’s 1st duty station was atypical.  The Navy needed an Aerospace Engineer at the Naval Aviation Supply Office in Philadelphia and he was assigned to the Grumman F-14A Tomcat program.  From ASO, he went to NAS Patuxent River, MD and the P-3 Orion training squadron leading to VP-24 in Jacksonville, FL. David searched and tracked Russian submarines during two separate six month winter deployments to Iceland. One special memory was flying the entire Dutch Cabinet on a P-3 demonstration flight.

David turned down Navy postgraduate school in Monterey, CA to return to school at San Jose State Univ. and earn a Civil Engineering Master’s degree. He was hired as Lynchburg’s Utilities Water Engineer while continuing with Navy Reserves, retiring as a Commander after 22 years.

With deregulation of the airlines, David began his dream job as a pilot for American Airlines.  He retired as a Captain after 20 years. His proudest moment with American occurred in Oct. 2001, when he flew former President Gerald Ford out of New York City after his visit to the 9-11 site.

Lynchburg was to have been a brief stop with David’s Civil Engineering career but here they have remained. Their contemporary home of some 40 years with views of Lynchburg on Fleming Mountain was shared with daughters:  Dr. Skye (a veterinarian) and Dr. Leah (a Forensic Human Factors consultant).

Early on Marilyn recognized that she needed to secure a more employable profession with a Navy husband on the move. She became a Medical Technologist (ASCP) and worked in Florida: at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, in CA: at Alexian Brothers Hospital, in Lynchburg: at Virginia Baptist Hospital. After retirement in 2008, Marilyn became interested in hiking and with various friends completed via section hikes the 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail in 2020.

The Hartmans are members of First Presbyterian and have participated in many areas of church life, community service and various organizations.