David Demuth Boon was born October 13, 1942, in Huntington, West Virginia. His parents, Howard Daniel Boon and Audrey Demuth Boon, had three children: David, his little sister Nancy, and his little brother John. After high school, David went to the University of Maryland, where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Science Education with an emphasis on Chemistry in 1963. Soon afterward, he met Ethel Louise Simmons, and the two married and stayed together the rest of his life.
David served in the US Army during the Vietnam War era. He was stationed in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, as a supply sergeant and personnel psychological specialist. While they were living in Wilkes-Barre, David and Louise had their first child, Wendy. After his Army service, David worked at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies. During that time, David and Louise had their second child, Whitney. Soon afterward, David returned to school, earning a Master of Science in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University. He then worked from 1979 until retirement with Computer Sciences Corporation in support of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. David received many awards for his work dedicated to space flight over the course of his career, including the Silver Snoopy Award and the Manned Flight Awareness Honoree award.
In the 1990s, David competed regularly in marathons, including the Army Ten-Miler, the Marine Corps Marathon, the New York Marathon, and the Boston Marathon. He also rode in the Cycle Across Maryland event several times and played chess in tournaments, winning several trophies.
We are honoring David Boon with the Earth Orbit Memorial Spaceflight because he was a fan of space exploration all his life. When he was in grade school, he wrote a story called "Three Mice and a Rocket" about some mice that built a silver rocket powered by cheese. As soon as his daughters were old enough to see through his telescope, David began teaching them about planets, moons, and stars. His career supporting NASA's space exploration was his dream job. His wife Louise and his daughters Wendy and Whitney all feel that having a bit of his ashes in orbit is a beautiful tribute to him and to the space exploration he loved and helped to advance.
