Kay Yingling
Kay Alan Yingling was born July 12, 1938 in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Hollis Smith Yingling and May Elizabeth Stoops Yingling. He passed on December 6, 2017 in Bay City, Oregon.
Kay was schooled in Public Schools and from age 6 to 11 spent two months each year at a military summer camp run by the Albany Academy in the Adirondacks of upstate New York.
His interests were diverse, from Ham radio (W3VDM and K7DAY). He had a General Class License at age 12. He started rebuilding his first car at age 13, a Model “A” Ford Roadster. Later he participated in drag racing and dirt track stock car racing. He was on the All South Penn Conference Football Team.
Photography was a lifelong hobby. A birthday gift was a movie camera at age 9, and a Crown Graphic at 11, which he used for his first published national magazine article at age 17; and a color magazine cover at 20.
He attended Brigham Young University, University of Nebraska, Omaha (BS), University of Southern California (MS), U.S. International University (Ph.D.) and UCLA (Post-Doctoral). He also attended Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop and Sherwood Oaks Film School in Hollywood. He served as External Advisor to Rochester Institute of Technology, Dept. of Photographic Arts and Science.
He served in the USAF as a Navigator during the Vietnam War where he survived a rocket hit to his plane. Kay later served in Israel during the Yom Kippur War and received a medal from the Israel Ministry of Defense. He accumulated over 6000 hours flying time. He claims his proudest moment is when his crew flew Robert White, the last POW out of Vietnam, during Operation Homecoming.
Kay’s last 7 of 23 years of military service were spent as a Motion Picture Production Officer. He produced and directed an award winning documentary film featuring Howard K. Smith when active as the ABC Anchorman. It was required viewing by everyone joining the Air Force or Navy and a number of foreign countries.
After military retirement Kay had his own audio-visual production company with clients such as General Telephone, NASA (on the Space Shuttle), US Army, Dept. of the Interior and a number of medical companies.
He then worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs for 18 years producing medical educational graphics and videos. He wrote a software program used for over 7 years by 162 VA Medical Centers. He was a Novell Certified Computer Engineer.
Kay was a member of the Latter Day Saints Church, Air Force Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and American Film Institute.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Holly Yingling of Bay City, OR, daughter Elena Yingling of Bonney Lake, WA, son Erik Yingling of Gilbert, AZ, and three step children; Christopher Stuart Cronk of Kailua, HI, Heather Elizabeth Cronk of Nairobi, Kenya, and Eric Andrew Cronk of Spreckels, CA. A son, Hollis Mark Yingling, died in infancy. He has a granddaughter Madilyn Ann Yingling and two step grandsons, Max Christopher Cronk and Andrew Ronan Cronk.
Interment was private at Willamette National Cemetery, Southeast Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon.