Neil Wallace Hamilton

Neil Wallace Hamilton died peacefully on September 16, 2018, after a long illness. He leaves behind his beloved wife, Celia; son, Andrew and his wife, Kim, and grandson Ian of Evergreen, CO; son Matthew, and his wife Tam and grandson William of Easton, MD; and his beloved dog, Bowie. Neil was born in Pasadena, CA in 1928. After graduation from Mark Keppell High School in CA, he enlisted in the Navy in 1946-1949 as an electronic technician and served on the USS Destroyer William Rush. They were deployed on the Atlantic Fleet which made an extended cruise to North Europe in 1947, and he was awarded the WWII Victory Medal. Afterwards, he was recalled for Korea 1950-1953 and was stationed at the Naval Receiving Station on Reserve Fleet in San Diego. He graduated from UCLA with his MS in Geology. In 1956, he went to work for AMOSEAS which was the exploration geology group for SoCal and Texaco and immediately went to Tripoli, Libya, where he spent over fove years, much of which was mapping and exploring in the Sahara Desert. It was a very interesting time as exploration had just again started after the war. After Libya, Neil went to Ankara in Turkey for almost two years and traveled a great deal through out the country. He was assigned to Australia and was there in 1962 where he met and married Celia in Brisbane, and their two boys, Andrew and Matthew were born there. Neil continued doing international work as well as domestic exploration in Australia, and Europe. In 1968, the family were assigned to Sumatra, Indonesia, where they spent two interesting years in Rumbai with Caltex. After returning from Indonesia, Neil continued to work in the international field from Evergreen, CO, first consulting and writing geologic reports with Dennis Hollis from Singapore. From Denver, he worked for Coastal Oil and Gas and Phil Anschutz the Railway Magnate until he retired in 1962. During retirement, he continued his many interests of history, music and the arts, including his love of Opera. He also took a keen interest in all of NASA and Mars geologic exploration and scientific material that was published. Neil once said He saw “the Nile and the Pyramids, the Golden Pagoda in Rangoon, the Casbah in Algiers, the Persian Gulf Region and the Antiquities of Sicily and Opera at La Scala in Milan.” What a life!! So loved and missed greatly! Donations will be graciously received if sent to Talbot Hospice, 596 Cynwood Dr., Easton, MD 21601. All services will be private.

Neil Wallace Hamilton

July 5, 1928 - September 16, 2018