Cameron Dwayne Ethridge - 1940-2021

It is with great sadness that the family of Cameron Dwayne Ethridge announces his passing on February 1, 2021, after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis.

Dwayne was born to Margaret and Cameron Ethridge in Greenville, Texas, on September 19, 1940. His family moved to Carrollton, Texas, and he graduated from Carrollton High School in 1958 where he received honors in music, math, and physics. Although offered a scholarship to SMU in music, he chose science and graduated from Texas Tech in 1963 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. At Tech, he played tuba in the concert, marching and pep bands where he met Jan Leachman, a business major, who played flute. They were married two weeks after graduation, and began their life together driving to Phoenix, Arizona for Dwayne's first job designing compass systems for commercial avionics at Sperry Flight Systems.

At Sperry, he received his MSEE from Arizona State University, published numerous papers, and received patents for altimeter avionics. The years in Phoenix were filled with mentoring through the Little Brothers Assn, playing bridge, hiking, (especially the Grand Canyon), camping, and attending car rallies with his Plymouth Barracuda. His children, Meghan, Kristen, and Blake were all born in Phoenix.

In 1975, the family moved to Los Alamos, where Dwayne worked in microcomputer instrumentation at LANL. There, he was a member of the NEST team, the first management training program at LANL, published and presented papers in micro-computing instrumentation to IEEE symposiums and taught electrical engineering at UNM-LA.

In Los Alamos, he designed and built the family home, fixed and maintained their Pinto and Suburban, took the kids fishing and hiking, made amazing ice cream, worked at a job he loved and enjoyed a remarkable life. He and the family moved to Albuquerque in 1985, but he returned to LANL a few years later. He completed a MA Degree in Training and Learning Technologies in 1997 at UNM and taught courses at LANL, including hazardous materials management, until he retired in 2015.

Dwayne was an iconic science fiction fan and loved Star Trek and the original Star Wars trilogy. He frequently turned up the volume of his surround sound to literally shake the walls with John Williams, band music, anything with a loud bass, oldies and, of course, the Beatles. And, he loved New Mexican food, especially chile rellenos.

Challenging mental games fascinated him. He was good at Chess, great at Bridge, and a true master of Sudoku. He took his love of complex games over to the sublime art of coaching youth soccer and mastered it as well. He coached Kristen's team for three years and Blake's select teams for five years. They played tournaments across the southwest, won many and had a great time doing it. Although not the coach, he never missed one of Meghan's games and took great pride in her accomplishments.

He loved and groaned at the Dallas Cowboys, cheered for both the Texas Tech's football and basketball teams, and UNM Lobos women's and men's basketball teams. A member of St. John's United Methodist Church for over 30 years, he tried never to miss a service, even if he needed to attend at 8:30, in order to see the Cowboys play at 11:00.

He will be remembered for his quiet, introspective presence, his sacrifices and compassion. And… No matter what the problem, in his quiet way, he always found a solution. Integrity was his passion, and his love was genuine. Always desiring happiness for his family, his children and wife were his pride and joy. He supported them without question and there was nothing he wouldn't do, to "make it happen."

Dwayne is survived by Jan, his wife of 57 years; his two daughters, Kristen Paige Ethridge; Meghan Meredith Schumann (and husband James Schumann); and son Blake Devin Ethridge (and wife Maureen). He is also survived by three grandchildren, Ronin Schuman, Henry Ethridge and Maggie Ethridge. He was preceded in death by his parents, Margaret and Leroy Cameron Ethridge, and his brother James Coy Ethridge.

A celebration of his life will take place in the future when friends and family can gather. Donations can be made in his name to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation or the American Diabetes Association.