Obituary of Vernon Bruce Slinker

Vernon Bruce Slinker went to be with the Lord on November 6, 2015. He was born on April 1, 1930 in Visalia, California where he attended Grammar School and lived until 1940. During the war years, his family moved to Porterville, then back to Visalia and settled in San Leandro for 2 years. In 1945 he moved with his family to Santa Cruz. Vernon graduated from Santa Cruz High School in 1948 and joined the Air Force in in 1950. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, he attended Air Police School in Florida followed by Air Force Special Training in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was then shipped to Fairfort, England where he served in Special Security. After his 1954 discharge from the Air Force, Vernon returned to college and in 1959 graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of California at Berkeley with his engineering degree. Vernon began his engineering career working for Lockheed in Sunnyvale from 1959 to 1962. He then worked for Kodak on the east coast from 1962 to 1963, when he returned to Lockheed in Sunnyvale, where he worked until retirement in 1990. In 1971, Vernon married Laura Lee McNeil. In retirement, Vernon and Laura travelled to many places in Europe and the United States. They also took cruises to Hawaii, Alaska and the Mexican Riviera. His favorite trio was the 21-day trip to Australia and New Zealand. He created a video library of those trips. In retirement, Vernon was a 20-year member of Sons in Retirement, Branch Number 36. He served as the person in charge of the membership rolls. For man y years he also served as the Buildings and Grounds Chairperson for Felton Presbyterian Church and as the Sound Control person for the 11:00 a.m. services when there were two services. Vern is survived by his wife Laura L. Slinker, his sister Barbara Clark of Stockton, California and his stepdaughter, Lorna McNeil-Cox of Lakeside, Arizona, as well as many nieces and nephews. A viewing will be held on Friday November 13 from 2-5 p.m. at Santa Cruz Memorial. There will be a service at Felton Presbyterian Church, on Hwy 9 in Felton on Saturday November 14 at 11:00 a.m., followed by a graveside service for family members. In lieu of flowers, the family appreciates your donations to Hospice of Santa Cruz or Felton Presbyterian Church.