Obituaries

John F. "Jack" Youngworth Jr.Naval Engineer

John F. "Jack" Youngworth Jr., 69, an engineer who designed the electrical and mechanical systems for a number of Navy ships, died Nov. 12 of renal failure at his home in Woodbridge.

Mr. Youngworth was born in Quincy, Mass., and received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University in the late 1950s. An apprentice engineer from 1964 to 1972 at Bethlehem Steel's Fore River Shipyard, he worked on the USS Long Beach and the USS Bainbridge, among the Navy's first nuclear-powered surface ships.

He then joined Litton Industries in Los Angeles, where he played a leading role in the design of a state-of-the-art destroyer, the USS Spruance. As a member of the electrical system design group, he was involved with the development of the "ring bus" electrical system design, a design technique still in use.

From 1976 to 1987, Mr. Youngworth was a senior engineer at Ingalls Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Litton Industries, in Pascagoula, Miss. He was the systems engineer for the first Aegis cruiser, the USS Ticonderoga. He led a major upgrade of ships in the Aegis class, reducing shipboard weight by more than 600 tons and thus allowing for the installation of a vertical-launched missile system.

In 1987, he moved to the Washington area, where he joined Techmatics Inc. as chief engineer and later became vice president for engineering. He retired in 2004.

In Mississippi, Mr. Youngworth helped establish a girls softball league. In Washington, after contracting kidney disease that required dialysis and a five-year wait for a transplant, he was an active spokesman for organ donor awareness. He also was a member of the American Society of Naval Engineers.

His marriages to Judith Youngworth and Dianne Youngworth ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 21 years, Ramona Youngworth of Woodbridge; five children from his first marriage, Veronica Hemphill of Griffin, Ga., John Youngworth III of Londonderry, N.H., James Youngworth of Raynham, Mass., Susan Youngworth of Colorado Springs and Jennifer Schatzl of Braintree, Mass.; a stepson from his second marriage, Victor Cross of San Luis Obispo, Calif.; two stepchildren from his third marriage, Cathi Wentworth of Smyrna, Ga., and Chrissi Cox of Springfield; three sisters; and 11 grandchildren.

Patricia PerdueCapitol Hill, AmeriCorps Employee

Patricia Filipczyk Perdue, 53, longtime Capitol Hill executive assistant who was a finance officer at AmeriCorps from 1994 to 1998, died Nov. 14 at Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge. She had breast cancer.

Mrs. Perdue worked for the U.S. House Post Office and Civil Service Committee from 1973 to 1994.

She then joined the newly created Corporation for National and Community Service, commonly called AmeriCorps.

She was born in the Alexandria part of Fairfax County and was a 1971 graduate of what is now the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.