James Porter “Jim” Woolnough was born at Fort Benning, GA to James Karrick and Mary Agnes Porter Woolnough. He attended USMA Prep School at Stewart AFB, Newburgh, NY, receiving an honorable discharge on July 6, 1953. He received a presidential appointment to the Academy from President Eisenhower. Jim came from two generations of West Pointers: grandfather Colonel James Barton Woolnough, Class of 1904, and father General James Karrick Woolnough, Class of 1932. They are buried with their family in the Taft Section of Arlington National Cemetery. While at West Point, Jim excelled in water sports, along with D-1 classmates William Liakos and Bill Sowers. He took the train to New York City frequently, sometimes with classmate Don Stackhouse, to see a Broadway show. On one occasion in NYC, he encountered Maureen O’Hara getting off an elevator. Jim bonded with his D-1 classmates and roomed with Bill Ellison and Warne Mead.
He married Sue Evans in June 1957, and they had three children: James, Linda and Laura.
Jim was a U.S. Army officer from 1957 to 1966, serving as a senior Army aviator, military parachutist, and a U.S. Army Research & Development specialist.
He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, earning a B.S. in engineering in 1957, and then attended the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, earning a B.S. in aeronautical engineering and an M.S. in aeronautical engineering in 1962.
• 1966-78 General Dynamics Corp., Vice President of Marketing, Pomona, CA Division
• 1978-82 Vought Corp., LTV Company, VP Research and Development, MLRS Division, Camden, TX
• 1982-86 Sanders Associates,
Senior VP, Nashua, NH
• 1987-88 Beech Aircraft Corp
VP Aerospace Division, Wichita, KS
• 1988-89 Ford Aerospace, Vice President and GM
• 1990-93 Loral Aeronutronic Division, President,
Newport Beach, CA
• 1993-97 Loral Vought Systems, Senior VP of Business and Development, Grand Praire, TX
He retired to care for Sue, who passed away from cancer in 1997.
Jim enjoyed snow skiing, golf, and travelling. He travelled to Scotland and Ireland to play many courses with his golf buddies. When he gave up golf, he started collecting guns and target shooting with friends.
Jim and I married in 1998. We enjoyed 20 wonderful years together. I loved his laugh; he could find humor in most things. We spent four years in Colleyville, TX and then, in 2002, moved to Kerrville, TX, where we built our home of 12-plus years on Comanche Trace Golf Course. We made three trips to Scotland to play golf and visited Ireland at the end of one trip. We moved to Keller, TX in mid-2015 for Jim to have his second heart-valve surgery, followed by a melanoma Mohs surgery and contacting a staph infection along the way.
We are blessed with six grandkids, their spouses and one great-granddaughter.
I am honored to be a part of his West Point family. I have many wonderful friends and memories from his D-1 class, our mini reunions and class reunions. If you want to see Jim, he will be at the Rainbow Bridge with all of our pups. God Bless America.
— Jan Woolnough