ST. TAMMANY PARISH, LA. Obituary for: GOVAN, GEORGE W. Submitted by: Louis Lavedan. Source: E.J. Fielding Funeral Home, Covington, La. Died: Wedneesday, March 22, 2017 ======================================================================= Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.shtml ======================================================================= GOVAN, GEORGE W. October 27, 1927 - March 22, 2017 ========== A photo is available for this file. Please go to http://usgwarchives.net/la/sttammany/obits/dateobits/2017/st1703.htm and click to view list of photos. ========== Commander George W. Govan, USN, (retired) of Mandeville, LA, died on March 22, 2017. He loved Big Band music and passed peacefully to “Cheek to Cheek” sung by Fred Astaire as he was surrounded by his family and devoted, slightly neurotic cat. He was 89 years old. George served over 28 years in the military, first in the Army Air Corps and then the US Navy. He grew up in Detroit, MI, and was appointed to the US Naval Academy in 1947. He graduated from the academy in 1951 and became a Naval Aviator. Upon graduation he learned to fly many fixed wing aircraft. George went on to be an aircraft carrier pilot in both the Korean and Vietnam wars earning many service medals and serving as Flight Operations Officer on the USS Ticonderoga. He always remembered this period as the best days of his life. After his flight career, he earned a Master’s Degree in Business from George Washington University and served his last years in the Navy as a comptroller at Corpus Christi Texas Naval Air Station. George started his own tax and accounting business after he retired from the Navy. Many people got to know “Mr. Tax” as a generous and jovial man. He was always ready to assist with advice or a helping hand. He lived in Corpus Christi for about 30 years before he moved to Mandeville, LA after surviving a fight with cancer to live with his daughter Debby Nelson in 2009. George was married to his high school sweetheart, Helen Louise Motto, after graduation from the Naval Academy and was married for 26 years for the majority of his naval career. He is survived by his children from that marriage David, his wife Ellen and their children Kelley and Kevin; Dale, his wife April and their children Chip, Dale E. and Cassie; Doug and his wife Laura; and Debby and her children John, Richard, Carolyn and David. He is also survived by two great-grandchildren Michael T. and Arthur J. Nelson. George married Bonnie McDaniel in 1991; he survived her as she passed away in 1998. Graveside funeral services with military honors will be held for George at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in November 2017. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and School’s building fund. US Navy ===================