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Obituary: Alexander Laurie Valentine Jr. / Worked with NASA on Apollo 11 lunar landing team

Courtesy of the Valentine family

Obituary: Alexander Laurie Valentine Jr. / Worked with NASA on Apollo 11 lunar landing team

Sept. 15, 1938 -- Jan. 5, 2020

Alexander Valentine Jr. knew every major volcano, crater and plain on the moon’s surface.

As a lunar cartographer for the Apollo 11 mission, he had to.

Working at NASA-contracted Raytheon Company, Mr. Valentine was among the team tasked with mapping the lunar surface in the late 1960s to find an ideal location for the upcoming moon landing.

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The goal was “to find the flattest spot with absolutely no craters and no rocks of any kind,” recalled Mr. Valentine in a Senator John Heinz History Center exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

In the end, Apollo 11 landed at “Tranquility Base,” one of three potential sites identified by the team.

Mr. Valentine, 81, of Oakland, died Jan. 5 of an aortic rupture.

Mr. Valentine was honored to work on the space program, said his wife, Patricia Gallagher.

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“He said to me many times over the years that he just wanted to live long enough so that he could celebrate the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing,” she said. “He said after that experience, everything else was just a job.”

Born in Braddock, Mr. Valentine graduated in 1962 from Carnegie Tech with a degree in electrical engineering, before serving in the Air Force as a second lieutenant.

He found his way to Houston, Texas, and the Apollo program through an acquaintance in the military, his wife said.

“He always said it was a friend who guided him in that direction,” she said. “His friend was doing something for NASA and brought Alex along. That was at the beginning of all of it — in its heyday.”

Mr. Valentine worked with NASA for six years, including on subsequent Apollo missions until the program ended in the early 1970s.

He was always happy to reminisce and lecture about his contributions to the historic undertaking, said his son Alexander Valentine III, of New Haven, Conn.

“I know that was one of the most important accomplishments of his life,” he said. “I think that experience was a defining moment for him.”

By 1972, Mr. Valentine relocated to Boston, Mass., where he continued working for Raytheon on other projects, including mapping the natural gas lines beneath Brooklyn.

In 1973, he met Ms. Gallagher at the Bull and Finch Pub — the Boston bar that inspired the television sitcom “Cheers.”

“It was the place everybody went to hang out and talk,” remembered his wife, who met Mr. Valentine when she accidentally stepped on his feet.

The two married in November 1976.

In 1978, Mr. Valentine earned an MBA from Northeastern University.

Always drawn to new frontiers and emerging technology, Mr. Valentine later worked in the computing and software industry for companies like Prime Computer, Samsung and Fluent before he retired in 2003.

“He was fascinated by computing and technology,” his son said.

Seven years ago, Mr. Valentine and his wife moved back to the Pittsburgh area.

“It was home for him — it was full circle,” his son said. “I think he was really happy to return and reconnect with the city and people he grew up with.”

Retirement gave Mr. Valentine time to golf and pursue his passion for art, dancing and genealogy.

“He loved to paint and was very involved in photography and sculpture,” said his daughter Dorothy Valentine, of Wilsonville, Ore. “He was a great painter and photographer — I mean really, really talented.”

Mr. Valentine never missed a chance to sweep his wife off her feet, and the couple were especially fond of Friday night dances at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

“He was a fabulous dancer,” she said. “They had parties the first Friday of every month and we always went.”

“They would be the first ones up there — and they would make a dance floor if there wasn’t one,” his daughter said.

“He really loved dancing and he loved disco,” his son said.

Ms. Gallagher said she would miss her husband’s sense of humor and steadying presence.

“He was very strong and he was funny,” she said. “It was amazing how much we would laugh through life. He raised two beautiful children and he could do no wrong. I loved him for 47 years.”

Along with his wife and children, Mr. Valentine is survived by his sister Susan Comba, of Richmond, Va., and three grandchildren.

No funeral services are planned, in accordance with Mr. Valentine’s wishes.

Memorial gifts are suggested to the Heinz History Center, https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/ or First Tee of Pittsburgh, https://www.thefirstteepittsburgh.org/

Janice Crompton: jcrompton@post-gazette.com.

First Published: January 14, 2020, 4:17 a.m.

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Alexander Valentine Jr.  (Courtesy of the Valentine family)
Alexander Valentine Jr.
Courtesy of the Valentine family
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