Charles Kendal Leeper of Middletown, VA died on Thursday, May 12, 2016, after a year of declining health. He was 92.

Charlie, as he was known, was born on June 20, 1923, in De Queen, Arkansas, the son of John Cleveland and Cadenza Vae (Winters) Leeper.

He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1944. As an undergraduate, he served in the United States Navy’s V-12 program from 1942-1944, stationed in Asbury Park, NJ, and was discharged on medical grounds.

After college, he worked as a junior engineer, first at the American Manufacturing Company of Texas, then at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Silver Spring, MD. He earned his M.S. in 1948 and his Sc.D. in 1954, both in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His professional career focused on nuclear energy and rocket propulsion. During his final year at M.I.T., he worked at Nuclear Development Associates in White Plains, NY, where he remained for five years. He then moved to Atlantic Research Corporation in Alexandria, VA, where he served for three years as a division director. From 1963-69, he was manager of engineering at Aerojet Liquid Rocket in Sacramento, CA, contributing to rocket engine designs—among them Titan II, Titan III, Gemini, and the Apollo Service Module—that were integral to the American space program of the 1960s. During this period, he also patented six designs in the field of fuel technology.

Throughout the 1970s and early ’80s, Charlie held leadership positions at various aerospace and energy companies, including Aerojet Nuclear Systems in Sacramento, where he directed engineering for NERVA, the nuclear rocket engine program aimed in part at manned space flights to Mars; Aerojet Nuclear of Idaho Falls, ID; Air Preheater of Wellsville, NY; and Combustion Engineering of Stamford, CT. In his retirement years, beginning in the mid-1980s, he moved to Middletown and founded Kenlee Technologies, a private consulting firm.

In addition to his professional pursuits, Charlie had a passion for woodworking and carpentry. He constructed model airplanes as a child, built furniture in high school, and kept extensive home woodworking shops wherever he lived. He was particularly proud of having designed and built a new sanctuary for the Broadway Baptist Church in Cambridge, MA during his graduate school days. While finishing work on the church, he also designed a house in White Plains, NY and, along with his first wife, Marjorie Leeper, built it by hand from foundation to rooftop. A decade later, he designed another house for his family in suburban Sacramento. Working on a smaller scale, he created wheeled contraptions that enabled his one-year-old daughter to scoot around independently while she wore a waist-to-toe cast to correct hip dysplasia.

Charlie was also an amateur astronomer. In the late 1970s, he built a portable observatory in his backyard. His “Starhouse,” as he called it, moved with him to Connecticut and Virginia, and he enjoyed sharing it with friends and local children.

Music was a cherished hobby for Charlie as well. At different stages of his life, he took up new instruments, including the piano, violin, tuba, sousaphone, organ, and cello. He also studied voice, co-wrote a manual for beginning organ students, and was a proud member of the American Guild of Organists.

Charlie’s faith was very important to him. He was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church in Winchester, VA, and he taught Sunday school there for many years.

Charlie enjoyed uniting his love of travel and photography. He traveled extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. On his most recent trip abroad at age 90, he rode a camel in Mongolia.

Survivors include his wife of nearly 42 years, Mavourneen “Miki” Byrns Leeper, of Middletown; three children from previous marriages, David Leeper of Hickory, NC (and his wife Rene Leeper), Gregory Leeper of Los Angeles, CA, and Rebecca Sargent of West Chester, PA (and her husband Andrew Sargent); and three grandchildren, Christopher Leeper, Sylvia Sargent, and Miranda Sargent.

A gathering to celebrate Charlie’s life will take place at 2:00 PM July 30, 2016, at First Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Virginia. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Charlie’s memory may be made to Residents Aid Account at Heritage Hall, c/o Heritage Hall Healthcare and Rehabilitation Centers, 400 W. Strasburg Rd., Front Royal, VA 22630.