Death Be Not Proud





by Hugh Pickens May 17, 2008
Peter Militch was probably the best engineer I ever worked with in my life and he was also one of my best friends. Peter was born in Australia. Peter's father had served in Yugoslavia in WWII and ended up interned in Australia where he became a permanent resident of the country after the war and worked in mining in the outback in Australia.
Peter was born in Leigh Creek, a town of 900 people that was about 200 miles from the next town and 400 miles from the nearest real city. Leigh Creek was a government owned town - the government owned all the houses, "even the pub," said Peter. "There was no television, no radio, and only a couple of phones in the town. A couple of years ago the government figured out that the town lay right over the biggest seam of coal in Australia and bulldozed the town and built a new town for the inhabitants," Peter added. "So the town where I grew up is now a hole in the ground, 3 miles long and half a mile wide."
When Peter was 12 he and his mother and brother moved to Adelaide and lived just a short walk from the beach. Peter learned mechanics and he and his brother and friends loved to soup up go-carts and race them around the streets of the city eluding the police.
After Peter graduated from college with a degree in Electrical Engineering he went to work on the Deep Space Network in Canberra, Australia. In 1982, Peter came to the United States after he married Donna and went to work at Bendix Field Engineering as a field engineer supporting NASA's worldwide Ground Network.
NOAA GOES Weather Satellites
I first met Peter in 1985 and over the years he and I worked together on a number of projects. In 1992 NOAA's GOES weather satellites were at the end of their useful lives and could have failed at any time so NOAA made an agreement with the government of Germany to borrow a Meteosat Weather Satellite as a backup and drift it over from Europe to provide weather coverage for the US's Eastern seaboard in the event of an early GOES failure.
The only problem was that Meteosat was a pretty dumb satellite and had to be in constant contact with a Ground Station to operate so NOAA started a crash program to implement a Meteosat Ground Terminal at Wallops Island Virginia in six months. Peter and I wrote a proposal to build the ground terminal over the Christmas holidays in 1992 and won the job.
It was BFEC's first fixed price engineering contract and the project was basically run as a two man project with Peter handling the design and systems integration while I handled the scheduling, budgeting, logistics, and subcontractor management bringing in temporary technicians and installers as we needed them.
The key to the project's success was our decision to subcontract the one custom piece of equipment, a KA-Band triplexer to two different waveguide companies. We needed four couplers in all so we awarded a contract for one each to MDL and to M/A-Com with the carrot that we would award the contract for the other two to the first company to finish. Our strategy worked. At the end of the project, we had completed the Meteosat Ground System on schedule and on budget and made 15% profit on BFEC's first fixed price contract.
The GRTS Project: A TDRS Ground Terminal in Australia
In the early 1990's the tape recorder for NASA's $450 million Gamma Ray Observatory failed and the spacecraft's capabilities were severely degraded because the quality of the data depended on getting hours long runs of data relayed through TDRS which was impossible because the spacecraft passed through the "zone of exclusion" on the other side of the earth at least twice a day.
NASA came up with a radical solution of solving the problem by building a TDRS Ground Terminal in Australia and came to Bendix to help implement it. The TDRS Ground Terminal in White Sands had cost $600 million and took ten years to build but NASA asked us to build a stripped down Ground Terminal, co-locate it at the DSN Station in Camberra Australia and build it in 13 months. I was BFEC's Project Manager on the GRTS Project which eventually grew to an engineering team of about 25 engineers and Peter played one of the key roles on the project because the station had be be remote controllable from White Sands and Peter conceptualized and designed the remote control subsystem. We came in on schedule and on budget with a TDRS system that cost $12 million.
FAISAT Transceivers
I think Peter's biggest technical challenge was designing and building five radio transceivers to go aboard FAISAT's 2v telecommunications satellite. Each transceiver weighed just over 5 pounds and was the size of a couple of paperback books. "They look for very low level signals coming from the ground at any of the several thousand frequencies, and then process them, decode them, and send them on to the spacecraft computer - all in a matter of milliseconds," said Peter. Each radio unit had three computers executing a total of twelve thousand lines of code in 256 bytes of RAM. Peter led a team that designed and built the radios with less than half a dozen engineers.
NOAA Fairbanks Autonomous Ground Stations
But the project that would pay the biggest dividends is one that Peter had dreamed about for ten years - building a fully autonomous satellite ground station that would operate for extended periods of time with little or no human intervention. The station Peter and Mike Anderson built for NOAA at their Fairbanks ground station had a front end with three 13-meter satellite tracking systems operating at L-Band, S-Band and X-Band frequencies. The station included a robust scheduler that permitted remote users to request pass activities for supported missions, built a human-readable control script that tracked spacecraft, received telemetry data, and archived it for post-processing activities. The system Peter designed and installed in Fairbanks became the prototype for a far larger system that he and Mike would build later for the DOD.
Working as an Engineer
I once asked Peter if he would ever retire as an engineer and he told me he wasn't sure but he didn't think so. "Working as an engineer is like getting paid for your hobby," Peter said. "Maybe I'll leave the company when I complete my thirty years and do something else in engineering. Maybe I'll go to work for a startup - that would be fun."
But Peter wasn't just interested in engineering. Peter was a voracious reader, going through a book a day and he could discuss any subject intelligently from computer design to history, to cognitive science. His hobbies included riding his motorcycle on cross country trips he made every few years and building an airplane in his spare time - a Cozy Mark IV #740 that he had spent three years on, completing the nose, spars, and beginning the wings.
Mobilizing the Citizens of Laurel Maryland
A lot of people don't know that in the 1990's Peter played a large part in mobilizing the citizens of Laurel to prevent Jack Kent Cooke from building a football stadium for his NFL team in the city. "Peter and his group analyzed maps, data and traffic patterns. We often sat until 1 or 2 a.m. preparing a case that amazed even the most cynical developer representatives," wrote Jeanne Mignon. "Peter never complained about the long hours; in fact, as we ate pizza and talked, he seemed quite in his element. Peter is an engineer. He is precise and communicates clearly. He is also wily and determined. His ideas for stymieing our opponents often bordered on brilliance. He foresaw their strategies, their weaknesses and their arrogance."
Peter's Legacy
When I talked to Peter at his home a few weeks ago, I asked Peter what he thought his legacy would be. "I think it will be my daughters. I am really proud of them," Peter said. "You know they are very kind and I think that kindness is about the most important human attribute."
I think Peter had kindness in him. In the years I worked with him I never once heard him raise his voice or lose his temper. Peter always believed that the facts would speak for themselves and it wasn't necessary to present emotional arguments to support a position. When Peter discovered he had cancer he approached the problem like any other. "A weaker individual would have succumbed to self-pity," wrote Jeanne Mignon. "Peter, true to form, researched and advocated for every possible avenue for cure, remission or delay of the tumor engulfing his system." Peter had a quiet dignity as he faced his condition philosophically. There was a strength in Peter that bordered on divine - you could feel it in his presence.
After his long struggle with cancer Peter died at his home in Laurel, Maryland on May 15, 2008 in the arms of his wife Donna who was devoted to Peter's care. Peter is survived by his wife and two daughters and by his mother, father, and brother in Australia.
Peter was 52 years old.
I will miss Peter and think about him every day for the rest of my life.
External Links
- Original Story Published on May 17, 2008 that includes comments from Peter's friends
- The GRTS Project: A TDRS Ground Terminal in Australia
- NOAA Fairbanks Autonomous Ground Station
- European weather satellite moves closer to United States
- GOES Satellites ensure Fair Warning of Foul Weather
- FAISAT Transceivers
About the Author

Hugh Pickens (Po-Hi '67) is a physicist who has explored for oil in the Amazon jungle, commissioned microwave communications systems across the empty quarter of Saudi Arabia, and built satellite control stations for Goddard Space Flight Center in Australia, Antarctica, Guam, and other locations around the world. Retired in 1999, Pickens and his wife of 33 years moved from Baltimore back to his hometown of Ponca City, Oklahoma in 2005 where he cultivates his square foot garden, mows seven acres of lawn, writes about local history, photographs events at the Poncan Theatre, produces the annual Oklahoma Pride series with his wife at Ponca Playhouse, and recently sponsored the first formal dinner in the Marland Mansion in 75 years. Pickens is founder and Executive Director of Pickens Art Museum with locations at Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, City Central in Ponca City, and Pickens Gallery at Woolaroc. Pickens can be contacted at hughpickens@gmail.com. Pickens is a covid survivor and a stroke survivor.
Personal Statement
Most days you will find me sitting in my easy chair with an HP laptop or a book in front of me. I enjoy intellectual pursuits: studying, writing, reading, researching, analyzing, and predicting. During my off time I like riding the backroads of Oklahoma in my hot rod, working out, watching old movies on TCM, playing games like chess or dominoes, participating in community theatre, and, my secret pleasure, reading trashy detective novels by John D. MacDonald. I enjoy theater and concerts and I go to NYC several times a year to see Broadway shows and visit galleries and museums.
Pickens' Publishing
In 1996, Pickens edited and published ''My Life In Review: Have I Been Lucky of What?'', the memoirs of Jack Crandall, professor of history at SUNY Brockport. Since 2001 Pickens has edited and published “Peace Corps Online,” serving over one million monthly pageviews. Pickens' other writing includes contributing over 2,000 stories to “Slashdot: News for Nerds,” and articles for Wikipedia, and “Ponca City, We Love You”. Pickens has written the following articles available on his wiki at Research and Ideas.
- ''My Life In Review: Have I Been Lucky of What?''
- “Peace Corps Online,”
- 2000 stories to “Slashdot: News for Nerds,”
History and Biography
I enjoy doing in-depth research on one person and writing a detailed biography of lesser known events or figures. I like to find someone, an artist, a politician, a former Peace Corps Director, or an Oklahoman, that I like and am interested in learning more about them and writing their biography from scratch. I started and filled out dozens of biographies when I wrote for Wikipedia back in the stone age in the early 2000's when they were getting started. But Wikipedia became too bureaucratic and political for me so now I research and write biographies on my own mediawiki platform. (I only make anonymous edits to Wikipedia now usually on the discussion pages.)
- My Biography of Jon Carson -The Man Who Won the Presidential Nomination for Barack Obama (>888,000 pageviews)
- My Discovery that Barack Obama's Mother Grew Up in Ponca City February 6, 2009 (>389,000 pageviews)
- Academy Award Winning Screenwriter Chris Terrio (>400,000 pageviews)
- Biography of Ninja of Go! Team (Nkechi Ka Egenamba)
- History of the 100-Year Old Oil Refinery in Ponca City, Oklahoma (>535,000 pageviews)
- My Uncle Donald and America's Fresh Water Submarines in World War II (>171,000 pageviews)
- What Happened to Okies after "The Grapes of Wrath" (30,000 pageviews)
- The Pioneer Woman Models Come Home to Ponca City February 26, 2010
- President Barack Obama's Mother Grew Up in Ponca City February 6, 2009
Science and Technology
I have a degree in physics from SUNY in 1970 and have worked in science and technology my entire career. I have held such jobs as Geophysical Observer on a geological survey crew in the amazon jungle, running a portable hydrocarbon detection laboratory on an oil rig, systems engineer for the microwave communications system and supervisory control system on the 800-mile long Trans-Andean Pipeline, independent contractor to Collins Radio in 1979 installing, commissioning, and testing microwave repeater stations all over Saudi Arabia, military advisor to the Royal Saudi Navy on naval communications, navigation, and fire control systems (1980 - 84), project engineer, then project manager for Bendix Fields Engineering (later becoming AlliedSignal Technical Services, then Honeywell Technical Services) from 1984 until my retirement in 1999.
- Building NASA's GRO Remote Terminal System (GRTS) in Australia
- Slashdot Posted a Story about me and an article I wrote about my recovery from covid in 2020 277 comments
- 2,400 Stories I have published on Slashdot over the years
- Why I enjoy Writing for Slashdot
- Contributions to Wikipedia]
- Why I enjoy Writing for Wikipedia
- Stories on Soylent News
Business and Investing
I am a speculator and enjoy designing and executing trading strategies that exploit market inefficiencies through my assessment and evaluation of information asymmetries, market psychology, and human emotion. Over the years I have put together several open-source histories of companies I am interested in including micro-caps that I have invested in.
- An Independent Evaluation of Phillips 66, its Business Strategy, and Execution (over 1,000,000 pageviews)
- Latest News from Phillips 66 (>450,000 pageviews)
- A History of the Ponca Refinery in Ponca City (>268,000 pageviews)
- A Financial Model for Tucows and Ting (over 1,000,000 pageviews)
- The Story of "Keep Burlington Local" and the Schurz/ZRF Conract Award
Ponca City, Oklahoma
I was born and grew up in Ponca City, Oklahoma, a town of about 25,000 somewhat isolated in North Central Oklahoma (a two hour drive to the nearest metropolitan areas in Tulsa, OKC, and Wichita.). After I left Ponca City to go to college, I worked overseas and on the East Coast for 30 years. But my wife and I came back to Ponca after our retirement in 1999.
Ponca City is an interesting amalgam of historical developments including being being founded and created from scratch during and after the Cherokee Strip Land Run in 1893, becoming an oil boom town in the 1920's, home of the "Palace on the Prairie" built by oil magnate E.W. Marland, home to Conoco's R&D facility employing hundreds of Phd.'s in the 1950's, 60's and 70's giving Ponca a character of a university town, and finally the continual influence of Native American tribes on our history especially the Ponca tribe and Osage Nation. Some interesting articles I have researched and written about Ponca City include:
- Hugh and Dr. S. J. Pickens Sponsor First Dinner Served in E. W, Marland Formal Dining Room in 75 Years December 18, 2016
- "Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" Reinterprets the Life of Ponca City's Controversial First Lady June 30, 2017
- The Pioneer Woman Models Should Return to Ponca City July 13, 2007
- The Pioneer Woman Models Come Home to Ponca City February 26, 2010
- President Barack Obama's Mother Grew Up in Ponca City February 6, 2009
- Standing Bear Looks to the Future
- Ponca City, We Love You
- What to See in Ponca City
- Railroads and Ponca City
- Ponca Playhouse to Present "The Broken Statue" January 17, 2012
- What Ponca City Owes EW Marland June 20, 2012
- How Much Money Does the Marland Refinery in Ponca City Earn for Phillips 66? July 23, 2012
- EW Marland and the Movie "The Ends of the Earth" (320,000 pageviews) May 23, 2013
- Sculptor Bryant Baker's Lost Masterpiece November 3, 2015
- Ponca Playhouse Production of "Lydie Maryland in the Afterlife" Ends in Triumph
Pickens Museum
Pickens Museum is a distributed museum that is active in three location: Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, City Central in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and at Woolaroc Museum near Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The museum has plans to build a 15,000 ft2 art museum on highway 60 West of Ponca City, Oklahoma. in the next few years.
- Pickens Museum
- Doctor Pickens Museum Facebook Page
- Meet the Team that is Going to Design Doctor Pickens Museum May 21, 2018
- World's Largest Naja on Display Outside Ponca City by Stephen Schwark August 29, 2018
- A 1949 Hudson Limousine August 2018
- Jo Davidson Sculpture from 1929
- Native American Artist Tonya Rafael Visits Ponca City February 2018
- Pickens Museum Opens New Exhibition "Winter in New York" by Roger Disney January 22, 2020
- The Three Faces of the Pioneer Woman by Daniel Pickens February 2020
- Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Faith Ringgold February 21, 2020
- The Turquoise Guitar by Jolene Bird November 26, 2018
- Sculptor Bryant Baker's Lost Masterpiece November 3, 2015
- Doctor Pickens Museum of Turquoise Jewelry and Art
Art
- My Biography of Academy Award Winning Screenwriter Chris Terrio (>400,000 pageviews)
- The Pioneer Woman Models Should Return to Ponca City July 13, 2007
- The Pioneer Woman Models Come Home to Ponca City February 26, 2010
- Ponca Playhouse to Present "The Broken Statue" January 17, 2012
- EW Marland and the Movie "The Ends of the Earth" May 23, 2013
- Sculptor Bryant Baker's Lost Masterpiece November 3, 2015
- A Ponca City Mystery - Who is this man? April 5, 2018
- Ponca Playhouse Presents: August Osage County"
- Biography of Ninja of Go! Team (Nkechi Ka Egenamba)
- I Refuse to Be Lonely Phyllis Hyman's Final Album
Peace Corps Writing
I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru from 1970 - 73 working with the Peruvian Ministry of Education teaching high school science teachers how to build lab equipment out of simple, cheap materials. In 2000 I started "Peace Corps Online" to document the work volunteers are doing around the world both during and after the Peace Corps Service. I ran the web site for ten years and posted about 10,000 stories. Even though the site is no longer active, I still get over 50,000 monthly pageviews.
- Peace Corps Online
- Peace Corps Library
- The Peace Corps "Sharp Incident" in Kazakhstan
- My Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Nomination of Gaddi Vasquez as Peace Corps Director
- An Interview with Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter
- An Interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez
- A Profile of Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams
Personal
- Dr. S. J. Pickens October 21, 2017 (53,000 pageviews)
- Pickens Museum Opens New Exhibit Honoring Dr. S. J. Pickens
- I Am a Covid Survivor December 27,2020 (27,000 pageviews)
- The Anger and the Guilt I can Handle - It's the 'Missing Her' I Can't Stand June 1, 2018
- My Uncle Donald and America's Fresh Water Submarines in World War II (>171,000 pageviews)
- Death Be Not Proud - a Remembrance of my friend Peter Militch (58,000 pageviews)
- My Favorite Christmas
- A Victorian Mansion in Baltimore's Reservoir Hill (41,000 pageviews)
- Remembering John D MacDonald and His House on Siesta Key (75,000 pageviews)
- Remembrances of My Life as a Geophysical Observer with Petty Geophysical Working in the Amazon Jungle in Peru in the early 1970's (14,000 pageviews)
- My blog on Facebook
- The Time Somebody Tried to Light a Fire in Front of Our House on Good Friday April 7, 2015
- Pickens Answers on Quora on Investing, Day Trading, Becoming a Millionaire, Human Loss, and Faking Your Own Death
Phillips 66

For nearly 100 years oil refining has provided the bedrock of Ponca City's local economy and shaped the character of our community. Today the Ponca City Refinery is the best run and most profitable of Phillips 66's fifteen worldwide refineries. The purpose of this collection of reports is to provide a comprehensive overview of Phillips 66's business that documents and explains the company's business strategy and execution of that strategy.