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IN LOVING MEMORY OF Melvin C. Hendrickson
Melvin C.
Hendrickson
January 24, 1927 – June 30, 2019
Melvin C. Hendrickson's Obituary
Melvin C. Hendrickson, age 92, a resident of Wheaton, IL, went to be with the Lord on Sunday, June 30, 2019, peacefully at home. He was born January 24, 1927 in Spring Green, Wisconsin to Leon and Laura Hendrickson.
Mel grew up on a farm in Spring Green, during the Great Depression. He served in the U.S. Army in 1946 and 46 as a teletype operator and in 1950 and 51 at March Air Force Base in California where he worked in electronics. After his service he earned a BS in Applied Physics at UCLA in 1954.
Mr. Hendrickson had a very successful career in electrical engineering and worked at Zenith for 32 years. He was an expert who held 28 patents, primarily in the field of scrambling and decoding pay TV signals and tuning systems. He authored or co-authored numerous papers which received awards including "Best Paper of 1977." In the 1970's he served as manager at Zenith and developed products such as the first digital remote control and technology used in millions of Zenith TVs. After he retired from Zenith, he spent a significant amount of time volunteering at a lab in in Elkhart, IN where he helped build radio transmitters for HCJB, that ended up being deployed in Ecuador. He also kept the certificate of appreciation for at least a dozen times he hosted the scouts of Wheaton Boy Scout Troop 374 at his farm west of Dodgeville, WI.
He and his first wife, Doris lived in Elmhurst, IL and were active members of Villa Park Baptist Church. Mel and Doris also raised two nephews Donald (Debra) Hendrickson and Roger Hendrickson; and one niece Carol (Michael) Weeks. After Doris passed away in 1985, Mel married Shirley Pearson in 1987 and moved to Wheaton, where they have been active members of the Wheaton Bible Church. He participated on a significant number of Go-Team trips with the Wheaton Bible Church.
He enjoyed the outdoors and camping. For many years he would take his family camping in the western National Parks. He served on over 15 short term mission trips with his church. He took many of his grandchildren on international trips. On one such trip, his granddaughter Laura was baptized in the Jordan River. In his spare time he was up at his Wisconsin farm. He was a very avid reader and enjoyed discussing specific details of just about every military battle.
He is survived by his wife, Shirley Pearson, his daughter, Joyce (Guy) Moriarty of Norton Shores, MI, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Mel is also survived by two sisters, Ruth Ann (Ken) Parker of Spokane, WA and Rebecca Hendrickson of Madison, WI.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Doris, nee Flory, Hendrickson, his parents and three siblings, Ruben Hendrickson, Delmar (Caroline) Hendrickson, and Virginia Davis.
A memorial visitation will be held
Monday, July 15, 2019 from 4 until 8 p.m.
at Hultgren Funeral Home,
304 N. Main St., Wheaton
. A private interment will be held in Dodgeville, WI.
Memorial gifts may be directed to Wheaton Bible Church, 27W500 North Ave., West Chicago, IL 60185.
Family and friends may sign a guest book at
hultgrenfh.com
. For more information, please call Hultgren Funeral Home at
630-668-0027
.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Melvin C. Hendrickson, please visit our flower store.
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