Chapter Founder Felix deGolian Passes

Founder of Atlanta Chapter, CAPT Felix deGolian '37, Passes Away at 90 on June 21st.

Chapter President Bill Rentz ’55, writes:

I regret to inform you of the passing of Felix deGolian, USNA ’37, on Monday, June 21, 2004. Captain deGolian was 90 years old and was the founding President of the Atlanta Chapter of the USNA Alumni Association. He served as Chapter President from 1946 to 1947.

A card and flowers were sent to the family on behalf of the Chapter, by our CACO (Casualty Assistance Call Officer) Marilyn McCallum, and husband Carl ’60.

I received the following letter from Felix’s son, Felix III, Class of ’63:

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Bill,

I can't tell you how much our family appreciated the concern you and the Atlanta USNA Alumni Chapter showed for us and Poppa. We children were raised on Navy songs and war stories. It's heartwarming to see the Navy family reach out to its own.

Our deepest thanks for the flowers and your support.

Beat Army!

Felix deGolian, III
Class of '63
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The following picture and article appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution obituaries column on June 25,2004.

Article by J.E. Geshwiler, Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Felix deGolian Jr., 90, Made a Big House a Home

Felix deGolian was a structural engineer who reared 14 sons and daughters to be as straight and strong as the buildings he raised.

“We’re lucky to be part o a big family,” said his daughter Helen “Butchie” Neely of Atlanta. “Every time there was a new baby in the house, Mother and Daddy were ecstatic.”

The funeral for Felix Eugene deGolian Jr., 90, is 11 a.m. today at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. He died Monday at Wesley Woods of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. H.M. Patterson & Sons, Spring Hill, is in charge of arrangements.

“Pop was a happy-natured soul, but he had a strict side, said another daughter, Marie Elise “Doll Baby” Sullivan of Minneapolis. “Every night we’d gather at the dinner table together, and Pop would make certain we sat as erect as he did when he was a Naval Academy Midshipman. He could be rigid about some things, like our observing curfews, but he balanced that with his joie de vivre.

“One of Pop’s greatest gifts was the gift of song. We’d pile into the car with him to go to the Piedmont Driving Club to swim or to the Varsity to eat, and he would lead us in some of his Navy songs or a gospel hymn and, often, ‘Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech.’ ”

“Daddy instilled a hard-work ethic in all of us, “ Mrs. Neely said. “He once owned 20 acres just outside Atlanta and raised 500 chickens there. We children were responsible for gathering washing and packaging the eggs they laid. Each night we’d take 12 to 15 dozen eggs to a market at the corner of Collier and Howell Mill. It was work that made us proud. Daddy gave us all nicknames, and some of them stuck with us all our lives. I’m called by my nicknamed, Butchie. Hardly anybody knows me by my given name.”

“Pop designed the house we lived in with a steel frame like a warehouse -- that’s the way he was used to building things,” said his son William deGolian of Atlanta. “As our family grew, he added on to it -- twice. Among the local projects Pop helped build were the Carillon Tower at Stone Mountain Park, Peachtree Center, Lenox Square, and Lockheed’s C-5A hangar.”

Educated at Annapolis, Md., and Georgia Tech, Mr. deGolian joined his father’s business, Golian Steel & Iron, in East Point, at the end of World War II after naval service in the European an Pacific theaters. Thereafter until the early 1970’s, he did building work in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast.

Survivors include his wife, Helen deGolian; four other daughters, Regina “Nina” Savakus of Ann Arbor, Mich., Luci Marshall of Portland, Maine, and Marie Angelique “Linky” White and Ann deGolian, both of Atlanta; seven other sons, Felix “Poley” deGolian III, Jonathan “Jerry” deGolian, Michael deGolian and George deGolian, all of Atlanta, Robert deGolian of Louisville, Ky., Peter deGolian of Tampa and Andrew “Roch” deGolian of Peachtree City; a sister, Angelique Kidd of Washington, D.C.; a brother, Richard deGolian of Lakeland, Fla.; 36 grandchildren; and three great grandchildren.