John Giacoletto

(1914-2006)

John was born on March 15, 1914 in Clinton, Indiana . He was one of the seven children of Pietro (Pete) and Antonia Savio Giacoletto, both of whom had immigrated to the United States from Italy.

John graduated from Clinton High School and entered Rose Polytechnic Institute (now Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) in 1931. Four years later, he received his B.S. degree with high honors in electrical engineering.

Shortly thereafter, he joined Collins Radio Company in Cedar Rapids , Iowa .

At Collins, John completed and supervised design efforts on several systems of avionic communications, including military airborne radios. He held patents for crystal stabilized frequency modulation systems and contributed to the development of the Collins Autotune for aircrafts, which permitted instant tuning of a radio to pre-set frequencies. John was a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers and a senior member of its successor, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Beyond John’s professional accomplishments, he enjoyed singing in church and in local musical groups. He and his wife Gevia had an extensive collection of classical music recordings and received much enjoyment from classical music productions and programming on local FM stations.