David Allen Littleton - Obituary

avid Allen Littleton, 92, passed away peacefully on September 18, 2024. Born in 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression on a 200-acre farm and ranch near the tiny town of Pidcoke, Texas, David helped his father raise cattle, shear sheep, and harvest wheat. As an adult, he told stories about setting off each afternoon with his squirrel dog and a .22 caliber rifle to gather dinner for the family. David unsurprisingly developed a strong work ethic and a belief in the value of education to build a better life. David attended the University of Texas at Austin for two semesters, realized he lacked the maturity to succeed there, and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1951, shortly after the start of the Korean War. During 12 weeks of Recruit Training Command (Navy boot camp), David chose sonar as his specialty because he didn’t know what that meant and wanted to learn something new. Following six months of sonar school, he was assigned to the destroyer USS Holister. They sailed to Korea in late 1951 via Oahu and Midway Island. The Holister saw action there, including attacks on enemy military infrastructure with the ship’s 5” guns and submarine patrols in protection of the battleship USS Missouri. With David manning the sonar station, the Holister depth-charged and sank an enemy submarine. While in port in San Francisco, the Holister’s Captain made David the ship’s Master-at-Arms, responsible for policing the behavior of his fellow sailors. It was an experience he would later refer to as a “lousy job.” He applied to transfer to the Navy SEALs or to submarine school. The Captain approved his sub school transfer and he rode a Greyhound Bus from California to New London, Connecticut with another sailor named Floyd Snyder. They were given three weeks to report, so they took their time on that journey. They stopped for three days in Manhattan: riding the elevator to the top of the Empire State Building, seeing South Pacific during its original Broadway run, and hanging out at the Birdland Jazz Club where Charlie Parker was the headliner. Many of David’s most compelling stories involved his service as a sonarman on the submarine USS Gauvina. He and the crew survived a near-death experience when they took the sub out for a test voyage following a six-month overhaul. The operators had failed to account for an increase in the sub’s weight during the overhaul. On its first dive, the USS Gauvina rapidly plummeted 160 feet, their descent arrested only by the ocean floor. The Captain ordered a type of Hail Mary recovery procedure that required blowing all tanks to get the bow pointing upward while running the engines “full ahead emergency.” They made it back to the surface and, according to David, “They made some adjustments before the next dive.” After four years in the Navy and an honorable discharge, David moved into a house in Austin with his brother Norman and enrolled at St. Edwards University. He chose St. Edwards instead of returning to UT because he believed, correctly, that he could count on attention and support from the Holy Cross priests who ran that institution. This was an important step along the path to David’s conversion to Catholicism. While in Austin, David’s good friend Hoot Thompson told David he had spotted a “cute new teller” at the City National Bank and suggested they go down to the bank to get to know her. David and Hoot took that girl out for a Coca-Cola, learned her name was Chris and that she had a roommate named Betty who might like Hoot. Thus began a storied chapter of double dates, dancing, convertible rides and cool swimming holes in the Austin summer heat. Hoot married Betty. And on December 26, 1959, David married Chris at St. Mary’s Church in Austin. David graduated from St. Edwards in 1960 with an accounting degree and began a career at the U.S. General Accounting Office, which sent him to military bases, aircraft manufacturers and Federal Government offices across Texas. While in Texas, Chris gave birth to their first two children, Jan Estelle in 1960 and David Louis in 1962. The GAO sent David to Albuquerque to work on a review of the Los Alamos nuclear weapons project and run the agency’s Albuquerque office. That posting allowed David and Chris to live close David’s sister Corinne and her husband Dr. Tony Grieco, where they developed very close relationships their niece Corinne Jr. and nephew Tony Jr. The third Littleton child, Kathryn Emily, was born in 1967 in New Mexico, delivered by Dr. Grieco. GAO transferred David to its Washington, DC headquarters in 1969. After a series of special projects and promotions, he assumed leadership of GAO’s largest division as Deputy Director for Operations, National Security and International Affairs. Many years later, David took sabbatical leave from GAO to manage the Southeastern University Research Organization Network (SURANET), which was a precursor to the modern internet. He led a sale of that entity to BBN in Boston, joined BBN’s senior leadership team, and retired five years later. The love of education and thirst for knowledge that David developed as a child never waned. He arranged for GAO to send him to the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, completed courses at the graduate school of George Washington University, and earned a master’s degree from the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University. David was a voracious reader of books, mostly nonfiction, covering an array of subjects that piqued his curiosity for all his adult life, including Astronomy, Astrophysics, Meteorology, Behavioral Psychology, History, Biology, and Theology. He simply never stopped learning. David loved music and dancing. Having married a girl with Czech heritage, he loved to polka (with notable skill) at weddings and reunions. He and Chris were for a time avid square dancers, and they both supported their grandchildren’s musical aspirations with enthusiastic praise and logistical support. As a result, many of those grandchildren are competent, accomplished musicians today. David and his brother Norman shared a love of motorcycles, among other things. He loved his brother and sister deeply and became very close to Chris’s extended family, several of who call him “my favorite uncle.” David loved sailing. Over the years he owned and raced several classes of sailboats and taught his kids to sail and race. When age made sailing difficult, David bought a remote-control model sailboat and began racing that. In time he came to own five different RC sailboats, each a different racing class, so that he could compete five days a week. David also was an aviator. He earned his single engine pilot’s license and his seaplane pilot’s license and took helicopter lessons. He co-owned and regularly flew a Cessna 172. He developed a fascination with auto-gyro aircraft, a fixed wing/helicopter hybrid, and built his own gyro plane. He loved to give rides to anyone brave enough to board that “experimental” aircraft – and according to family lore may have taken up two very young granddaughters (Jenna and Lauren) without permission from their mom. David’s commitment to process and safety always kept the danger level low despite appearances. David became a Catholic in 1975. With the zeal of the convert, he remained a deeply devout practitioner for life. He and Chris made pilgrimages to Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe and Medjugorge. Late in life David took vows to become a Third Order Franciscan. Stories will be told about David’s unique hobbies and breadth of knowledge. He will be remembered mostly, however, for his sense of humor, his solid moral character, and his unlimited devotion to his grandchildren. David was an excellent father; he was a truly outstanding granddad. He never said no to any request for help. He would drive any distance to attend birthday parties, sporting events, concerts and family gatherings. He dedicated the latter decades of his life to being fully present in the lives of his grandchildren, a steadfast source of love and support for each of them, including Stephanie Sherpa, to whom David and Chris became surrogate grandparents after her family emigrated from Nepal. David’s grandfatherly love helped all those blessed individuals grow into the thriving, self-confident adults they are today. David enjoyed good health and mental acuity almost until the very end. After a fall in August, with hopes of recovery fading, he placed a call to his old friend in Texas and said, “You won this round Hoot; you outlived me.” His final days were rich with visits, hugs, phone calls, stories, music, prayers, and expressions of love and gratitude from family and dear friends. David will be missed by many and remembered forever as an example of how to live a good life and how to live for others. David’s beloved wife Christina passed away in 2012. His sister Corinne Grieco and his brother Norman Littleton also preceded him in death. David is survived by three children, Jan Estelle Siewertsen, David Louis Littleton, and Kathryn Emily Lauterbach; eight grandchildren, Jenna Thompson, Lauren Siewertsen, Caitlin Siewertsen, Alexandra Littleton, Katharine Littleton, Alec Lauterbach, Maximilian Lauterbach, and Emily Lauterbach; three great-grandchildren, Patrick, Kiersten and Makenzie Thompson; his sister-in-law, Jackie Littleton; his daughter-in-law, Susan Stevenson; his sons-in-law, Michael Siewertsen and Spencer Lauterbach; grandsons-in-law Matthew Thompson and Ovi Ghosh, and grandson-in-law-to-be Gregory Julian. Family and friends are invited to celebrate David's life on Tuesday, September 24 from 10-11 AM, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11, at Holy Family Catholic Church, 826 W. Central Avenue, Davidsonville, MD. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in David's name may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Grand Central Station P.O. Box 4777, New York, NY 10163