Neil Wayne Heckt,78, died after a long illness, Wednesday August 19 at Franciscan Hospice in Burien Washington in the presence of his wife.

Neil was born February 8, 1937 in Jasper, Minnesota to Velva and Milo Heckt.

He attended the South Dakota School of Mines and graduated from South Dakota State University and immediately embarked on a 34 year aerospace engineering career with the Boeing Company where he worked on the Apollo space program.

After retiring from Boeing he founded a successful new company Almost All Digital Electronics where he sold electronic products of his own invention that catered to amateur radio aficionados. He was highly regarded within that community.

Neil is survived by his wife Merlann (Kay) Heckt, his five sons, James, Richard, Steven, Andrew and Neil (Scottie); seven grandchildren, brother Orvan and many friends.

A service in his honor will take place Friday August 28th at 2:00 o'clock at Cascade Memorial in Federal Way, Washington.