Walter Rosamond Carnes
October 7, 2011
Walter Rosamond Carnes, age 88, died Oct. 5, 2011 at OCH Regional Medical Center, in Starkville. He was born in Winona, Oct. 7, 1922. He was a World War II and Korean Conflict Veteran, serving in the Army Air Corp and the United States Air Force as a pilot, achieving the Rank of Major.
He received a bachelor’s and master's degree from Georgia Tech and a doctor's degree in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Illinois.
Dr. Carnes brought his family to Starkville in 1959, joining the Mississippi State faculty in Aeronautical Engineering. He became Associate Dean of Engineering in 1966 until his retirement from the Dean's office in 1992. He continued to teach in Aerospace Engineering until his final retirement in 2004.
Some of his notable accomplishments include helping to establish the graduate engineering instruction program at the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg. He was the first faculty advisor for the newly established School of Architecture in 1973. He also worked for Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia, working on the early design of the C-130 Aircraft. He was a consultant for NASA, working on the Gemini program in Huntsville, Ala..
He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Starkville. Through the years he taught several men's Sunday school classes, culminating in the radio broadcast of the Businessmen's Bible Class, which he taught until 2010.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Walter Rufus Carnes and Ida Leola Rosamond Carnes; and two brothers, James Edward and Arthur Randall Carnes.
Survivors include his wife, Jean Carnes of Starkville; daughter, Betty Carnes Wooten of Mt. Juliet, Tenn.; son, Walter Rufus Carnes, II of Franklin, Ky.; brother, Edward Lee Carnes of Middletown, R.I.; grandsons, Walter Rosamond Carnes, II of Bowling Green, Ky. and Sean Rivera of San Diego, Calif.; one great grandchild; and several nieces and nephews.
Visitation for Dr. Carnes is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 9, from 2-3 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Starkville, with the funeral service immediately following in the church. Burial will be Memorial Garden Park Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the First Baptist Church Building Fund.
You may go online and sign the guest register at http://www.welchfuneralhomesinc.com.
