Douglas Arnold Prochnow, 51, of Gloucester, Va., passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, surrounded by his family.

 

He was born in Moorhead, Minn., and grew up in Minnesota, North and South Dakota. Doug was a member of Bellamy United Methodist Church where he served on several committees, and was a member and past master of Botetourt Masonic Lodge #7 in Gloucester.

 

Doug served his country in the U.S. Army and then retired from the National Guard with a total of 20 years’ service. He was currently employed at Jacobs Sverdrup Co. in Hampton as Engineering Technician IV Instrumentation Technician. 

 

Since 2007, Doug had provided data acquisition and instrumentation expertise support for the Landing and Impact Research Facility of the Structures Testing Branch at NASA Langley Research Center. Doug was the Data Acquisition Lead on over 80 tests for the ORION Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). The MPCV is NASA’s space vehicle being developed for transport of cargo and/or crew to Space Station, the moon, and potentially to Mars. Data from these tests have been used for making ORION landing system decisions. The success of these tests was made possible due to Doug’s expertise, work ethics and professionalism.

 

Doug was preceded in death by his father, Arnold R. Prochnow.

 

He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Marie B. Prochnow; daughters, Kathryn and Amanda Prochnow; his mother, Frieda Reister Prochnow of Jamestown, N.D.; his siblings, Lorie (Ed) Farnsworth of McHenry, N.D., Lee Prochnow of Williston, N.D., Darcie (Steve) Rolla of Watford, N.D.; nephew, Evan; nieces, Ashley, Shania, and Shayla; godfather, Herb Prochnow, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.

 

The family received friends at the funeral home on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013, from 6:30-8 p.m. Funeral services were held on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013, at 2 p.m. in Bellamy United Methodist Church by the Rev. Kenneth Waclo. Burial with military honors and Masonic rites was in Bellamy Memorial Cemetery.

 

The family requests memorial donations be made to the Trustee’s Special Fund of Bellamy United Methodist Church, 4870 Chestnut Fork Road, Gloucester, Va. 23061.

 

Andrews Funeral Home, Gloucester, was in charge of arrangements.