Robert Andrew Grimesey
Robert Andrew Grimesey, 80, died July 4, 2009 at his home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
He was born Dec. 8, 1928, to Andrew Grimesey and Marion Tyler in Mentor, Ohio. He attended grade school at Coleman’s Catholic School in Cleveland and junior high in West Salem, Ohio. His family moved to Newburg, Ohio in 1939 where he worked on the dairy farm and acquired a love for country life. He graduated from St. Paul’s Catholic High in Norwalk, Ohio in 1947.
Mr. Grimesey joined the U.S. Navy in 1948, became an electronics technician and served aboard the Destroyer USS Strong until 1952 during the Korean conflict. He attended John Carroll University and graduated with a master’s degree in nuclear physics in 1957.
Mr. Grimesey was a lifelong Roman Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He enjoyed backpacking, hunting, skiing and traveling along with studying history, physics and foreign languages.
He married Kathleen Kromer of Sandusky, Ohio in October 1957 and they began their lives together in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Mr. Grimesey was employed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in reactor physics for 34 years and retired in 1991.
During his physics career he was one of two scientists appointed to a Department of Energy project at Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island, N.Y. He designed a mathematical algorithm to calculate the cross-sections of elements in the core of a nuclear reactor. The algorithm is currently in use by physicists around the world. At INEL, he belonged to the reactor physics group that created conceptual designs of new reactor systems and analysis for radiation shielding of reactor systems. During his retirement years, he advocated for nuclear power generation as a source of clean energy.
In 1997, Mr. Grimesey married Mary Jane Scouten in Libby. They lived there together until his wife’s death in 2004.
He is survived by his two stepdaughters, Heather and Holly Scouten, and his five children, Margaret Villa and Andrew Grimesey of Seattle, Wash.; and Eileen Reid, Rachel Grimesey and Logan Grimesey of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He is also survived by his first wife of 38 years, Kathleen, of Coeur d’Alene; and his five grandchildren.
A funeral Mass is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 9 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Libby. On Wednesday, July 8, visitation is from 1-7 p.m. with Rosary at 7 p.m. at Schnackenberg & Nelson Funeral Home in Libby.
Memorials may be sent to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.