Neil Hutton, of Poway, California, passed away peacefully on April 1, 2025. He was 95 years old.

Neil was born on February 17, 1930 to Margaret (Carr) and Stanley Hutton in Seattle, Washington. He graduated from Burbank High School, in Burbank, California, in 1947 and joined the United States Air Force in 1950 during the Korean War. He was sent to Korea in June 1952 and stayed through 1953, working as an Electronics Technician. He left the Air Force with the rank of Airman First Class.

Neil worked as an Electronics Technician at Bendix Aviation in 1954 and 1955. He then worked at the Lockheed Space Division on the Polaris Intercontinental Missile.

While working full-time at Lockheed, Neil attended the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California. He graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering.

In 1960 Neil joined the Autonetics Division of North American Aviation where he was part of a newly formed group to assess the reliability and performance of the Guidance and Control Systems of the Intercontinental Ballistic and Minuteman Missiles. He later worked on the Apollo program at Autonetics.

While at Autonetics, he received a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from USC in 1965.

In 1970, he joined the Design Automation Group at NCR, where he wrote programs to automate computer design. He also worked on VLSI chip design. He retired from NCR in 1993.

Neil married Eleanor Marie Birong on June 28, 1958. They had two sons, Thomas and Douglas.

The family moved to Escondido in 1969 and to Poway in 1972. Neil delighted in taking the family on four-to-six-week-long camping trips in the summer when the boys were out of school, driving a pickup truck with an over-the-cab camper. Over the years, they went down to the tip of Baja California, Mexico, up to the Arctic Ocean in Canada, and all through Alaska when the Alaska Highway was still a dirt road. Neil taught himself how to prospect for gold on trips to the Yukon, Canada, and in Alaska. They also camped extensively in the continental U.S. including many trips to Yosemite National Park in California.

Everyone in the family was an avid skier and they took at least one family ski trip to Lake Tahoe every year. Neil was still skiing at 89. He was also a keen fisherman and often went on fishing trips with friends from his Autonetics days.

Neil and Eleanor vacationed in Hawaii in 1980 and fell in love with it so much that they bought a timeshare on the island of Kauai and took family and friends on numerous trips there.

Shortly after Neil retired, he and Eleanor put a mattress in the back of their Astrovan and visited most of the states in the continental U.S. They had so much fun that they bought a motorhome the following year and traveled extensively in it. They also enjoyed cruises to Alaska, the Caribbean, Fiji, Europe, and many other places.

Neil was predeceased by his sister, Dorothy, and his brother, Stanley. He is survived by his wife Eleanor, sons Thomas and Douglas (Terrie), and grandchildren Ryan and Lauren.

For those who are unable to attend, St. Michael's will live stream the service over the web at https://venue.streamspot.com/event/NTU5NjYyNw==