Harold "Hal" Gene Ledbetter passed away Wednesday, December 12, 2018, in Livingston, Texas at the age of 84. Hal was born in Pine Valley, Mississippi on January 15, 1934. He graduated from Alton Senior High School in Alton, Illinois in 1952 and he joined the U.S. Navy the day after his high school graduation. Hal served in the U.S. Navy from 1952 – 1956 then attended Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, Indiana on the GI Bill and earned his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering.

Hal worked for NASA in Houston for a brief time in the mid 1960's which started his long time Civil Service career with the U.S. government. He had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the pioneers in space flight, including astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of the early Apollo missions. He eventually settled in Southern California and raised his family in Poway, California while working at North Island NAS and NAS Miramar. He worked with the F-14 fighter jets and stimulators at NAS Miramar and he had the opportunity to work with some of the crew of the movie Top Gun while they were filming at NAS Miramar and utilizing the F-14 simulators for the movie in the mid 1980's. His career eventually took him to Point Mugu, California where he worked closely with the MX Missile and Space Shuttle programs there as a Program Manager. One of his responsibilities in that role was to send out the flight crews that searched the debris fields after the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. During his career, he had achieved Secret Security Clearance with the U.S. government and he retired from his Civil Service career in 1994 from the Missile Defense Center in Point Mugu, California. After his retirement, he relocated and settled in Polk County, Livingston, Texas in 1994.

Hal married Marjorie (Eldridge) Ledbetter in 1961 in Sunnyvale, California then divorced in 1987 and he later remarried to Ina (Bone) Ledbetter, in 1999. Hal was an avid genealogy buff, a hobby he picked up while still in Southern California. He spent many years researching, documenting and writing about his extensive research and had much of his work published in the book Ledbetters Revisited by Kenneth E. Haughton and Relf L. Huddleston. N.p.: the authors, October 2000. [vi], 1386 p , as well as many other genealogy publicaitons. After his retirement, Hal enjoyed traveling in his RV with Escapees RV Club and square dancing with his second wife, Ina. He suffered numerous ailments in his later years due to his ongoing battle with the neurological condition, essential tremor.

Hal is survived by his daughters, Tina Ledbetter and Brenda Ledbetter both of California; grandson, Zachary Stevens of California; two nieces and one nephew of the Rolla, Missouri area. He is preceded in death by his parents, Charles Marion Ledbetter and Mabel Lucille Henley; brother, George Robin Ledbetter; and second wife, Ina (Bone) Ledbetter. At Hal's request, there will be no services.

Cochran Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Please sign our online guestbook at www.cochranfh.com .