1.MilbreyOttoBurgett1, born 04 January 1928 in Hollis, Harmon, OK. He was the son of 2. WilliamOttoBurgett and 3. VivianOnaSmith. He married (1) LaJuan [nmn]Dunlap 10 March 1951 in Clovis, Curry, NM. She was born 16 October 1929 in Chillicothe, Hardeman, TX. She was the daughter of T. L. Dunlap and Beulah Ida Hanks.
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Milbrey Otto BURGETT was the first of three children [and only son] of William
Otto BURGETT and his second wife, Vivian Ona [SMITH] MARTIN. He was born 4 January 1928 at
Hollis, Harmon County, Oklahoma and attended public schools there, graduating from
Hollis High School in 1946 with the highest grade point average in his class.
Immediately upon graduation from high school, he entered the United States Marine
Corps in 1946. He served two years as a teletype maintenance man and operator
at Station Headquarters Squadron at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station at Santa Ana,
California. He was an 'expert rifleman' and was authorized to wear the World War II Victory Medal.
After military service, he entered the College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. After
completing three years toward a degree, he was recalled to active duty in 1951 during the Korean conflict by the United States Naval Reserve, in which he had enlisted in 1949, to the Naval Communications Station, Washington, D. C., where he was involved with communications intelligence. He served in the same organization with Captain Laurence F. SAFFORD, who helped ‘break’ the Japanese code before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, making possible a dramatic American naval victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
Upon release from active duty in 1953, he returned to complete the unfinished year of school at
the University of Oklahoma, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial
Mangement Engineering in 1954.
He was immediately recruited and hired by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. by its Explosives Department, Atomic Energy Division--which designed, constructed, and operated the Savannah River Plant in Aiken, South Carolina for the United States Atomic Commission. ‘Heavy water,’ plutonium, and other special nuclear materials, including isotopes for medical use, were produced for both the ‘Atomic Bomb’ [fission bomb] and the ‘Hydrogen Bomb’ [fusion bomb] at that location. As a Health Physicist, he was involved with safeguarding personnel, equipment, property, and the environment from radiation and contamination hazards.
After a transfer by du Pont in 1955 to its Textile Fibers Department, Nylon Division in
Martinsville, Virginia, and serving as an Industrial Engineer in the manufacture of nylon
yarn for textile fibers [primarily 15 denier hosiery nylon], he joined Combustion
Engineering, Inc. at its newly-formed Nuclear Division in Windsor, Connecticut in 1958
with a group of young fellow du Pont engineers from the Savannah River Plant to startup
and operate a facility for processing uranium ‘fuel elements’ in the fabrication of nuclear
propulsion reactors for ‘Polaris’ submarines for the United States Navy as a prelude to
that company’s production of commercial nuclear power reactors.
In 1960, he was recruited by Package Machinery Company of East Longmeadow,
Massachusetts to initiate and operate a ‘total quality control’ program for that
manufacturer of plastic injection molding, die casting, and automatic packaging machinery.
He became an entrepreneur in 1966, starting his own company, National Safety Products
Company in Avon, Connecticut, producing porcelain enamel on aluminum safety signs for
business and industry.
In 1969, he joined Quantum, Inc. of Wallingford, Connecticut as Assistant to the President
of that company producing non-metallic moldings and laminates for high temperature
products, primarily for aerospace applications.
He became a Project Manager with North American Philips Controls Corporation of
Cheshire, Connecticut in 1971 and was responsible for coordinating the design,
development, and manufacture of the small [1in. x 3/4 in.] direct current motor for the then
innovative Polaroid SX-70 camera. He subsequently converted a manual production and
inventory control system to a computerized Materials Control program for that plant.
He subsequently joined Connecticut International Corporation of Windsor Locks,
Connecticut, a manufacturer of constant-current airport runway lighting systems as Plant
Manager. The company was subsequently owned by Crouse-Hinds of Syracuse, New
York, which in turn was taken over by Cooper Industries of Houston, Texas. He
supervised the construction of a new manufacturing facility in Windsor, Connecticut and
combined two physically separate manufacturing operations into one building. In the late
1970’s, this plant supplied a substantial number of the airport runway lighting systems to
the prime contractors who built airports all over the Saudi Arabian peninsula. That the
airports and their construction were supervised by the United States Army Corps of
Engineers left no doubt that these airports were intended for, and were used extremely
successfully by, United States military aviation services during ‘Operation Desert Storm.’
He then joined The Montgomery Company of Windsor Locks, Connecticut as its General
Manager and was involved in the manufacture of decorative [lame] and electrical tinsel
and specialty wire products for the telephone and electronics industries. The company
supplied wire for ‘heated flying suits’ used by military air service personnel during World
War II. These suits were forerunners of today’s ‘electric blankets.’ He retired in 1986
when the company went through a ‘leveraged buyout’ and moved operations to New
Hampshire.
He is a retired Registered Professional Engineer [Oklahoma # 5809].
Politically, he served on the Avon, Connecticut Republican Town Committee, and
subsequently as its Chairman, as well as on the Connecticut Republican State Central
Committee, representing his state senatorial district for his political party.
He also served as Chairman of the Avon, Connecticut Water Pollution Control Authority
and as a Justice of the Peace, performing several marriages.
He represented the Avon, Connecticut United Fund as a Director on the Board of the
United Way of the Capital Area for metropolitan Hartford, Connecticut.
He married La Juan DUNLAP, a daughter of T. L. and Beulah DUNLAP of Chillicothe,
Midland, and Littlefield, Texas, on 10 March 1951 in Clovis, Curry Co., New Mexico.
She had a thirty-five year teaching career in Texas, Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia,
and Connecticut.
In their ‘pursuit of happiness’ during their retirement to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he
enjoys golf, reading, and family genealogical research; she enjoys reading, cooking, and
volunteer work with children at the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum; and they enjoy traveling.
In 1996, he compiled a two-volume genealogy of ‘The BURGHARDT/BURGET Family
in America 1625-1995.’ This publication has been distributed to various individuals who
purchased copies, as well as to the following libraries and genealogical and historical
societies in those areas where BURGHARDT/BURGET individuals migrated from the
Hudson River Valley westward:
Great Barrington Historical and Genealogical Society, Great Barrington, MA
Columbia County Historical Society, Kinderhook, NY
Dutch Settlers Society, Albany, NY
New York State Library, Albany, NY
Old Stone Fort, Schoharie, NY
A. D. White Research Society, Burgettstown, PA
Ashtabula County Genealogical Society, Jefferson, OH
Ohio State Library, Columbus, OH
Allen County Library, Fort Wayne, IN
Missouri State Archives, Columbia, MO
Texas State Library, Austin, TX
Montague County Genealogical Society, Bowie, TX
Oklahoma State Library, Oklahoma City, OK
LDS Library, Salt Lake City, UT
California State Library, Sacramento, CA
Sutter County Historical Society, Yuba City, CA
Oregon State Archives, Salem, OR
Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, OR
More About Milbrey Otto Burgett:
Census 1: 1930, Hollis, Harmon, OK
Census 2: 1940, Hollis, Harmon, OK
Census 3: 1950, Norman, Cleveland, OK
Census 4: 1960, Avon, Hartford, CT
Census 5: 1970, Avon, Hartford, CT
Census 6: 1980, Avon, Hartford, CT
Census 7: 1990, Avon, Hartford, CT
Census 8: 2000, Fort Lauderdale, Broward, FL
Military service 1: Bet. 1946 - 1948, U. S. Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Santa Ana, CA
Military service 2: Bet. 1949 - 1953, U. S. Navy Reserve
Military service 3: Bet. 1951 - 1953, U. S. Navy Communication Station, Washington, DC
Residence 1: 1928, Hollis, Harmon, OK
Residence 2: 1944, Inglewood, Los Angeles, CA
Residence 3: 1945, Hollis, Harmon, OK
Residence 4: 1946, Santa Ana, Orange, CA
Residence 5: 1951, Washington, DC
Residence 6: 1953, Norman, Cleveland, OK
Residence 7: 1954, Aiken, Aiken, SC
Residence 8: 1955, Martinsville, Henry, VA
Residence 9: 1958, Avon, Hartford, CT
Residence 10: 1991, Fort Lauderdale, Broward, FL
La Juan was the first of three children born to T. L. and Beulah Ida [Hanks] Dunlap on 16 October 1929 at Chillicothe, Hardeman Co., TX. Her family moved from Chillicothe to Midland, Midland Co., TX in the 1930's where her father, T. L. Dunlap was in the grocery and laundry business. La Juan graduated from Midland High School in 1946 and enrolled at Abilene Christian College in Abilene, TX. T. L. and Beulah sold their laundry in Midland and bought another one in Littlefield, Lamb Co., TX before La Juan graduated from Abilene Christian in 1950 with a B. A. degree in Home Economics and Education.
She taught Junior High School reading during the 1950-51 school year at Plainview, Hale Co., TX.
She married Milbrey Otto Burgett on March 10, 1951 at Clovis, Curry Co., NM.
At the end of the school year, she joined Otto in Washington, DC, where he had been recalled to active duty in the U. S. Navy during the Korean conflict. She taught Home Economics at Suitland, MD High School during the 1951-52 school year and until January 1953, when Otto was released from active duty and returned to the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK to complete his Senior year.
When Otto took a position with E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. at the Savannah River Plant in March 1954, they were off to Aiken, SC, where she taught at an elementary school in Aiken.
In 1956, Otto was transferred by du Pont to their nylon plant in Martinsville, VA, where she again taught elementary school.
Otto took a position with Combustion Engineering, Inc. in Windsor, CT in February 1958, and her long-tenure in elementary education in the West Hartford, CT public schools began.
After teaching in all grade levels, but primarily at the elementary level, during a thirty-five span, she retired in 1987.
In their ‘pursuit of happiness’ during their retirement to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he
enjoys golf, reading, and family genealogical research; she enjoys reading, cooking, and
volunteer work with children at the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum; and they enjoy traveling.
More About Milbrey Burgett and La Dunlap:
Marriage: 10 March 1951, Clovis, Curry, NM
