Stanley E Aulabaugh

Stanley E. Aulabaugh, Jr. passed away peacefully on August 24th, 2025, at the age of 84 years old. Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, Stanley grew up tinkering with motors and tending to his family's farm.

His love of engines and cars fueled his interest in mechanical engineering at West Virginia University. Working on engines was the plan, but his life took a turn when the Vietnam War broke out. After joining the Air Force, Stanley circumnavigated the globe more than 30 times in large planes as a navigator.

After his two tours in the Air Force, he founded a construction and surveying company, built a few custom homes, bought a farm and developed Mill Point, a residential sub-division in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Mill Point became a benchmark in the area for high-end houses and development in the area for decades. However, a bad economy encouraged him back to the Air Force in the sunny state of Florida where the space shuttle program was taking off. Stanley's family welcomed the sunshine and beaches. After approximately six years, the desire to finish Mill Point was too strong so he detoured from the space industry back to Martinsburg, to finish his blue-chip residential subdivision himself. Whether it was operating a front-end loader, bulldozer or back-hoe, Stanley had mastered them all and was never seen without a smile on his face while on these large "yellow machines." He and his high-school aged sons learned many lessons in those couple of years in the dirt.

Developing real estate was fun, but the family liked Florida too much. Stanley dove back into the space industry working for the federal government in Florida. After their three kids left the nest, Stanley and his wife (Dee) decided to pursue a California space industry opportunity similar to his Florida government job. When retirement age arose Stanley tried, again and again, but the pull of calculations, conversations, and solving big engineering and space safety problems were too intriguing and interesting for him. His last job was subcontracting to Space X. Finally in his early 70s, and after his beloved wife, Dee, died, he decided to try retirement again. It stuck this time and Stanley enjoyed doing puzzles, reading biographies, and traveling the country by car. A hip replacement and advancing age slowed Stanley down as he stared down 80, but he managed to cross the country again by car in his late 70s accompanied by his long-time girlfriend, Eunice, who he met three years after his wife of nearly 50 years passed away.
He is survived by his daughter, Toni Aulabaugh, and sons Guy and Dirk Aulabaugh (Marnie), and his grand-daughter, Ava Aulabaugh. Stanley was pre-deceased by his wife Frances Dee Aulabaugh in 2011. Stanley and Dee will be interred in the columbarium at Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The twinkle in his eyes, his silly dad jokes, and his love for his family will be missed. We will use "cool beans" in your honor, Stan the Man.

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